Job portal fails
The labour ministry is revising its jobseekers' database to ensure that every job created in the country is registered by the government.
Only 20% of the 15 569 jobseekers who were registered on the Namibia Integrated Employment Information System (NIEIS) during the 2017/18 financial year found jobs.
According to labour minister Erkki Nghimtina, only 3 116 could be placed in employment. This means that more than 12 400 people could not find employment through the system.
During his budget motivation in the National Assembly Nghimtina said this demonstrated that there were serious structural challenges in a component of the employment creation strategy that was intended to provide fair opportunities to all who sought work and to meet employers' hiring needs. Nghimtina said one of these shortcomings was the absence of compulsory registration by each employer of every job that is created in the country. According to him it appeared that many employees were not recruited through the NIEIS but by word of mouth, personal connections, recommendations by colleagues, or the internet. Other shortcomings were a lack of relevant skills necessary for economic growth and inadequate attention paid to recognition of prior learning. “Employment creation requires a serious and targeted approach and not only political and social talks without offering viable alternatives,” he said.
The minister said although the government had tried to create the necessary conditions and a conducive environment for employment creation, these had not realised in the creation of much-needed jobs.
“If the economy cannot grow and cannot create the necessary job opportunities, then it should be redesigned or remodelled.”
Nghimtina said to meet the above-mentioned challenges the ministry was revising the NIEIS to ensure that every job that was created was recorded by the government. This was in order to provide a true reflection of the state of job creation. Nghimtina further said that employment directives had been prepared to maximise employment and these must be strictly complied with by those who tendered for government contracts or applied for economic rights, concessions and licences. The ministry also commenced research and analysis with the assistance of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to determine the feasibility of introducing a national minimum wage for Namibia.
“This is necessary in a country like Namibia where many employees are still paid wages that are not commensurate with their job content and productivity and are considered to be part of the working poor.” He said parallel to this was the establishment of the Namibia Productivity Centre to balance productivity with innovation and decent work to make Namibia one of the most competitive economies in SADC.
To continue with these activities an amount of N$32.7 million was requested in the national budget.
According to labour minister Erkki Nghimtina, only 3 116 could be placed in employment. This means that more than 12 400 people could not find employment through the system.
During his budget motivation in the National Assembly Nghimtina said this demonstrated that there were serious structural challenges in a component of the employment creation strategy that was intended to provide fair opportunities to all who sought work and to meet employers' hiring needs. Nghimtina said one of these shortcomings was the absence of compulsory registration by each employer of every job that is created in the country. According to him it appeared that many employees were not recruited through the NIEIS but by word of mouth, personal connections, recommendations by colleagues, or the internet. Other shortcomings were a lack of relevant skills necessary for economic growth and inadequate attention paid to recognition of prior learning. “Employment creation requires a serious and targeted approach and not only political and social talks without offering viable alternatives,” he said.
The minister said although the government had tried to create the necessary conditions and a conducive environment for employment creation, these had not realised in the creation of much-needed jobs.
“If the economy cannot grow and cannot create the necessary job opportunities, then it should be redesigned or remodelled.”
Nghimtina said to meet the above-mentioned challenges the ministry was revising the NIEIS to ensure that every job that was created was recorded by the government. This was in order to provide a true reflection of the state of job creation. Nghimtina further said that employment directives had been prepared to maximise employment and these must be strictly complied with by those who tendered for government contracts or applied for economic rights, concessions and licences. The ministry also commenced research and analysis with the assistance of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to determine the feasibility of introducing a national minimum wage for Namibia.
“This is necessary in a country like Namibia where many employees are still paid wages that are not commensurate with their job content and productivity and are considered to be part of the working poor.” He said parallel to this was the establishment of the Namibia Productivity Centre to balance productivity with innovation and decent work to make Namibia one of the most competitive economies in SADC.
To continue with these activities an amount of N$32.7 million was requested in the national budget.
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