26 Jul 2023

Over 190 000 graduate job-seekers have been registered on the Botswana Labour Market Observatory (LMO) job-seekers database housed at the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC).

Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe revealed this when responding to a question in Parliament on Monday July 24. 

He said there were 603 registered employers who included all government ministries, departments and agencies.

He noted that placement of graduates used to be done on the basis of first graduated and first registered. 

“For students graduating in the same cohort the registration date in the database will apply, while for students from different cohorts the graduation date will apply in addition to the registration date,” said the minister.

Dr Letsholathebe, however, said the new system emphasised competitiveness instead of the first come first served principle which used to be the case.

He said 667 of the registered job-seekers were social work graduates. 

He said 506 of the social work graduates were degree holders while 161 were diploma holders.

“I am however not in a position to state the number of social workers already recruited in the public service through the Labour Market Observatory job-seekers database. 

This is because, as with all other new technological developments, the operationalisation of the job-seekers database has not been without challenges,” he said.

Dr Letsholathebe said some of the challenges related to the perceived lack of transparency in the recruitment and placement in the public service, inadequate registration by employers and the posting of job adverts. 

He further said limited job opportunities made those in the list anxious and desperate as they stayed too long on the waiting list before they could be called for job interviews.

He said HRDC was developing the Botswana labour market information system, which has a robust job-seekers database (JSD) module with enhanced functionality to address most of the technical issues currently experienced by users. 

He said the JSD module would become operational in October.

Mahalapye East MP, Mr Yandani Boko had asked the minister to state the process of hiring social workers by the HRDC. Ends