Staff Reporter
AMIDST the unemployment epidemic facing the country, the labour ministry continues administering the Namibia Integrated Employment Information System (NIEIS), which serves a purpose, among others: matching jobseekers and potential employers.
Of the 3,927 referred jobseekers by the Ministry to different prospective employers this quarter, only 288 jobseekers were placed for employment. In addition, 4,546 jobseekers were registered, with the majority being female (2,555), while 1,991 are male jobseekers. About 635 individuals received career counselling, including testing for selection from the Ministry.
This information was revealed in the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations, and Employment Creation (MLIREC) quarterly report.
Aune Mudjanima, Acting Executive Director within the labour ministry, said that the Ministry is in the process of developing the Third National Employment Policy (NEP3). “The Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI) is contracted by the Ministry with assistance from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to spearhead the development process of the Policy and has already submitted the Draft Situational Analysis Report to the Ministry. A Validation Workshop to this effect has already taken place,” Mudjanima said.
She added that the Office of the Labour Commissioner handled a number of 2,048 labour cases during this quarter, showing an increase of 118 cases compared with the previous quarter.
Mudjanima explained that the office is still faced with a challenge of pending cases, recording 979 (48%) pending cases this quarter. “This is mostly attributed to postponements either by parties or arbitrators; ongoing negotiations by the parties, as well as a few arbitrators whose diaries are mostly fully booked due to many cases that the Ministry receives. The situation of arbitrators being fully booked with cases also contributes to having insufficient time to prepare and issue awards within a prescribed legal time. Of the handled cases, 1,069 (52%) cases were successfully resolved, whereby 747 (70%) cases were resolved at conciliation while 322 (30%) were resolved at the arbitration level,” Mudjanima said.
In addition, the ED said that the Ministry had to deal with a total of 1,082 labour complaints from different employees, mostly on unsettled remunerations. As a result, an amount of N$594,813.00 was collected by the Ministry on behalf of the affected employees. “Employers should adopt a manner of honouring their obligations by paying rightfully what is due to their employees,” Mudjanima said.
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