12 Aug 2020

A total of 133 470 job seekers have registered with the Ministry of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development offices throughout the country, Parliament has learnt.

The total includes 70 per cent or 93 429 youth registered from 2016 to date.

Minister of Employment, Labour and Skills Development, Mr Mpho Balopi, said out of the registered number, 15 582 were degree and diploma graduates, 117 888 certificate holders and others semi-skilled and unskilled.

Mr Balopi said on the registered job seekers, 50 199 were placed for employment either on temporary or permanent basis in various sectors. He said out of this number, 35 199 were young people.

In addition, Mr Balopi said some government ministries and departments including Directorate of Public Service Management, Ministry of Basic Education and Ministry of Health and Wellness had separate databases for unemployed graduates for the purpose of assisting them to find jobs.

Furthermore, he stated that the figures did not account for all unemployed graduates and that there was a possibility that some graduates might have registered more than once in the said databases.

In order to close gap, he said the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) was developing a Labour Market Information System (LMIS) that would capture labour market information system including employed graduates for the purpose of assisting them to find employment.

The system would assist in labour market trends and patterns that were continuously changing, owing to changes in the state of economy, demographics, technological advances, skills required and training demands.

“It will also facilitate disaggregation of education and employment statistics through linkages with other existing databases,” he said.

Minister Balopi further said implementation of LMIS Statement of User Requirements (SOUR) report commenced this financial year and the initial modules for the processing of labour market indicators was expected to start in September and that procurement of the systems developer was ongoing and the actual development was expected to start in December.

Parliament also learnt that as a result of unemployment of young persons in the country, including graduates, government and other partners had come up with policy instruments, strategies or interventions that sought to promote financial inclusion of young persons to be self-employed, as well as to create employment opportunities increasing in the areas of manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, land use and the creative industry, just to mention but few.

LMIS would provide regular, accurate and time series data on employment information which would enhance policy and programme development as well as to support the formulation and implementation of efficient labour market policy interventions.

The system would provide data on the number of jobs created as a result of the implementation of employment creation policies and programmes.

Mr Balopi said the data generated would further assist government to continuously monitor the effectiveness of the policy interventions.

Mr Balopi was answering questions asked from Selebi Phikwe West MP, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse who wanted to know if the ministry had statistics of unemployed graduates and their qualifications and/ training, if so, to furnish Parliament with detailed information.

He also asked the minister to further state how the statistics had shaped public policy especially employment creation for young people. ENDS