PathLensSOUTH AFRICA · CLEARER PATHS. BRIGHTER OPTIONS.
Life Science Technician
OFO Code: 314101
Last checked 7 October 2026
1. Occupation identity
- OFO code
- 314101
- Occupation
- Life Science Technician
- Classification
- OFO 2021
- Major group
- TECHNICIANS AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSIONALS
- Unit group
- 3141 · Life Science Technicians (Excluding Medical)
Official description
Life science technicians (except medical) provide technical support to life science professionals undertaking research, analysis and testing of living organisms, and development and application of products and processes resulting from research in areas such as natural resource management, environmental protection, plant and animal biology, microbiology, and cell and molecular biology.
More official OFO detail
Specialisations: Herbarium Technician, Life Sciences Laboratory Technologist, Bacteriology Technician, Maxillofacial Technician, Microbiology Technician, Biomedical Technician, Marine Biology Technician, Biochemistry Technician, Zoology Technical Officer, Physiology Technologist, Pharmacology Technician, Serology Technician, Fisheries Technical Officer, Entomology Technician, Biological Technical Officer, Tissue Culture Technician, Botanical Technical Officer
- Preserving, classifying and cataloguing specimens and samples
- Performing routine field and laboratory tests
- Using complex and high-powered equipment to perform work
- Participating in the research, development and manufacture of products and processes
- Ordering and stocking laboratory supplies
- Assisting in designing, setting up and conducting experiments
- Collecting and preparing specimens and samples, chemical solutions and slides and growing cultures for use in experiments
- Keeping detailed logs of worked performed
- Maintaining relevant databases
- Monitoring experiments to ensure adherence to correct laboratory quality control procedures and health and safety guidelines
- Setting up, calibrating, operating and maintaining laboratory instruments and equipment
- Making observations of tests, and analyzing, calculating, recording and reporting test results using appropriate scientific methods
2. Demand status
Demand evidence unavailable
No approved governed OIHD graph relationship is available on this deployment for this OFO code.
PathLens does not fall back to legacy specimen demand flags when governed evidence is unavailable.
A national demand signal is not a promise of a vacancy in your town.
3. Salary evidence
No approved governed salary observation or sourced snapshot salary record is available for this OFO code yet.
Open remuneration history & calculator →4. Quick EE check
How much might Employment Equity matter in this job context?
Answer three quick questions for a rough read. This is workforce context, not a hiring decision.
Select the employer size and your profile to get a quick read.
5. Qualification
Qualification evidence pending.
Understand NQF levels, institutions & recognition → Build my qualification pathway →6. Study funding
Check all funding options, eligibility & obligations →A funding match will only be shown once a recognised qualification or study route has been identified.
7. Industry, sector and provincial context
National occupation classification. Industry and provincial context are shown only where a separate official source supports the link.
No source-backed modern OFO↔SIC 7 industry link has been ingested for this occupation yet. PathLens does not infer one from the job title.
Browse the official South African industry classification →8. Next steps — official links
9. Decision tools
10. Sources for this page
- DHET Organising Framework for Occupations (OFO 2021) · Ingested · identity spine active
Canonical OFO identity data has been ingested and validated. 1511 occupation records are recorded in the ingest artifact. - DHET Occupations in High Demand · Validated pipeline · graph publication not confirmed
The governed OIHD pipeline is active, but a successful populated graph run is not currently confirmed on this deployment. - Critical Skills List · Monitored · occupation linkage pending
Official migration sources are monitored, but PathLens does not infer visa eligibility or occupation-level eligibility from monitoring alone. - QCTO qualifications and occupational certificates · Candidate staging ready · not published
Qualification staging and human review are implemented; no qualification↔OFO relationship is published without an explicit source identifier or governed human review. - Stats SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey · Acquisition active · no approved evidence on this deployment
Official QLFS artifact discovery is active. Dataset-specific schema, weighting, reliability and review gates remain separate; a discovered artifact or executable estimator does not itself create a public claim. - SETA Sector Skills Plans / hard-to-fill vacancy tables · Partial · explicit source links only
PathLens preserves explicit source-backed SETA/activity links where present and does not infer modern SIC relationships from occupation titles.