High jobless rates irk Minister
By Asser Ntinda

New measures to create more jobs on the way
High unemployment, sub-living wages and the erosion of decent wages and conditions of employment through labour hire and other forms of casualization are some of the major challenges irk the government.

Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Cde Immanuel Ngatjizeko, told the National Assembly on Wednesday that high unemployment, particularly among the youth and the widespread vulnerability among the elderly, especially in rural areas have left his Ministry with no option but to devise new measures to address and overcome these challenges.

In such circumstances, he said, the role of his Ministry had never been more crucial to the social and economic development of the country than now. Namibia’s unemployment rate has been estimated at around 50 per cent.

Creating jobs remained government’s top priority and his Ministry had to play a key role in tackling the major challenges facing Namibia and guarantee appropriate framework, proper environment and effective assistance to achieve the goal of decent and productive employment for the people.

“To meet the challenges,” he said, “our government is called upon to relentlessly pursue all avenues that hold the promise of job creation, to coordinate the sometimes fragmented government development programmes, to ensure that education and training is relevant to potential employment and to bring together the public and private sectors and communities to act as one in order to maximize employment and self-employment opportunities.”

Motivating his Ministry’s more than N$1,14 billion, Minister Ngatjizeko said the Ministry would continue to provide social protection to the most vulnerable and marginalized in the country, particularly in rural areas. He outlined notable successes made by his Ministry in the last financial year.

His Ministry, he added, had thoroughly reviewed and analyzed Namibia Labour Force Survey last year. The survey was conducted in 2008. He promised that the Ministry’s analysis would be issued soon. Namibia also conducted its Occupational Wages Survey last year and its findings would be released in the course of this year.

Last year, the Ministry registered 5660 job seekers, he said. This year, that figure increased to 7424. The Ministry’s employment officers were only able to canvass 242 employers, compared to 599 during the previous year. This was due to funding constraints.

This year, the Minister promised to table the Employment Services Bill in the National Assembly. It was supposed to be tabled last year but legislative hiccups delayed it. Once enacted, it will strengthen the Ministry’s capacity to assist jobseekers to find suitable jobs and other employment-related opportunities throughout the country.

“The proposed legislation will require all private employment agencies to register with the Employment Services Bureau to be established under the Bill,” he said. “The Bill will also require all employers to report employment vacancies to the Bureau as they arise, for inclusion in the national database.”

Another important bill to be tabled later this year is probably the Employment Creation Commission Bill, under which a National Employment Creation Commission shall be established. Its main task would be to coordinate and facilitate job creation to maximize national efforts in both the public and private sectors.

To provide scientific labour market information and to ensure that appropriate employment policies and legislation were in place, the Ministry needs over N$40 million for this purpose alone.

With 38 labour inspectors and nine factory inspectors, the Ministry conducted 491 labour inspections and 400 safety and health inspections at workplaces throughout the country, compared to 1332 and 485 respectively in the previous year.

During the financial year, 486 tripartite meetings were held across the country to promote sound labour relations, compared to 288 the previous year, said Minister Ngatjizeko.

The Ministry was also able to recover over N$1,4 million from employers where such monies were owing to employees, compared to slightly over N$1,14 million the previous year.