Durban — Addressing the opening of the Public Employment Services strategic and planning conference on Thursday, Employment and Labour Director-General Thobile Lamati said the draft National Labour Migration Policy (NLMP) and the National Employment Policy (NEP) were the two most important instruments of the changing nature of the South African labour market.
The NLMP together with the amended Employment Services (ES) Bill were unveiled in February 2022 to regulate issues of labour migration, while the NEP provides an overarching framework on issues of employment including the NLMP.
The NLMP and the ES Bill are currently in Parliament before the legislators, while the draft NEP has been finalised and submitted to the Presidency for socio-economic impact analysis.
The NEP is to undergo an extensive consultation with various departments and other stakeholders before it is tabled before cabinet.
Lamati said the department’s Public Employment Services branch has been leading the formulation of these policies.
The branch assists companies and workers to adjust to changing labour market conditions. It does this through provision of employer services and work-seeker services, and including the facilitation of subsidies to designated groups and special services to promote the employment of people with disabilities.
“The world is facing its greatest crises in recent memory. South Africa is not exempt, and has one of the highest unemployment challenges which exacerbate inequality and poverty. So as the country, while focusing on elusive economic growth we need to urgently roll out employment strategies.”.
Lamati added that the unemployment problem should be resolved by all concerned. He called for the establishment of a war room on employment. Lamati said the time for silo-based interventions was over and the need for collaboration with partners to address the problem was paramount.
He added that despite the positive economic trends that were formerly seen, these did not translate into improvements in the standard of living for the majority of the people. Strategies also needed to take into consideration the large number of workers engaged in the informal sector. Lamati said the department had been at the forefront of efforts to cushion work seekers and the unemployed from the devastating effects of unemployment.
“I call on the branch and the rest of the department team to redouble their efforts as we soldier on to reposition the organisation to lead the war against unemployment. We can no longer focus on counting the number of work seekers registered on our system. In redoubling our efforts, we need to focus more on the placement of those that are on our database,” Lamati concluded.
The employment creation war room terms of reference are expected to be defined and adopted by November/ December 2022.
Daily News
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