Employers urged to work with government to deal with unemployment

The Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Boitumelo Moloi has called on employers to work with government to deal with the high unemployment rate in the country. Speaking at a jobs fair in Nkomazi, Mpumalanga, Moloi said the aim of the roadshow was to engage employers on the assistance that the department can offer to ensure compliance with labour relations regulations.

A room full of hopeful jobseekers. Young people from Nkomazi came in their numbers to look for opportunities at the jobs fair.

In Mpumalanga, the unemployment rate is 44%. Jobseekers have been encouraged to use this occasion to register on the Department of Labour’s database. Currently, the database contains the details of more than six million jobseekers.

“We have got job opportunities where other employers are registering their job opportunities in our system, once you have put your CV on through our system and our system can match your skills with the requirements of an employer. We are facilitating that as a department. Annually, we are counselling more than 300 000 people,” says Moloi.

These young people have been searching for employment for years. They are hoping this session will finally end their journey.

“It’s going to assist me a lot in finding a job since I heard there are many companies here if I qualify, they will consider my application,” a jobseeker says.

“I have been searching for a job for 10 years but we have been deprived of getting those opportunities because you need to be under 35 to be able to work in SA. Another thing they say they need three years of experience, where do I get that experience from school, it’s a struggle for us,” another jobseeker explains.

Moreover, Moloi has called on employers to return unused money from the COVID-19 temporary employer-employee relief scheme that they had received from the department. So far, more than R2 billion has been recovered from employers after investigations.