Question NW423 to the Minister of Employment and Labour
23 September 2019 - NW423
Cardo, Dr MJ to ask the Minister of Employment and Labour
What are the details of the partnerships forged by his department with (a) employers and (b) training institutions to train the youth for digital jobs which are expected to be created in the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
Reply:
a) The Department of Employment and Labour under the Employment Services Act provides free recruitment and placement services to employers and work seekers alike.
220,851 work seekers were registered by Department of Employment and Labour centres during Quarter 1 of 2019, against an annual target of 700,000.
Through various partnerships with employer organizations a total of 52,894 employment opportunities were registered by Department of Employment and Labour centres during Quarter 1 of 2019, against an annual target of 90,000.
The department also profiles and assess competencies of registered work seekers to shorten employer recruitment and selection process. During Q1 a total of 70,086 work seekers were provided with employment counselling by against an annual target of 210,000.
The counselling services are an important step in identification of work seekers for referral for selection and placement by various employers or for further training in various training institutions. 18,126 registered employment opportunities were filled during Quarter 1 of 2019 against an annual target of 45,000.
b) The Department of Employment and Labour through the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has partnered with about 32 State Owned training providers and institutions to implement training of UIF beneficiaries. The intention is to pilot the project with training of over 160 000 learners over a period of three years. The training will vary from Skills Programme to Learnership to Artisan. The projected budget for the intervention is estimated at R7.9 billion over the period of three years.
Through this intervention 6000 artisans will be trained at the cost estimation of over R800 million. Learnership will take about 67 000 learners at an estimated cost of R3.7 billion. There are 400 of the claimants who have skills and need to be assisted with certification through Recognition of Prior Learning(RPL), at a cost of R15 million. A further 81 000 of the learners will be taken through the skills Programme at a cost of about R2.5 billion to enable them access to training and possible job placement. The final leg is the introduction of enabling entrepreneurship through enterprise development and training. Just over 1 400 will be trained in this area with the intention of absorbing trainees from other Programmes and linking to the market.
As at quarter 1; 20 000 people are in training with over 75% being young people and more 50% of the total being women.
The intervention is expected to grow over time to an extent that as and when a claimant visits the Department of Employment and Labour to claim for unemployment an opportunity will be ready for the claimants to link up the benefit payment with training thereby reduce cost on paying stipend.