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65,936 Jobseekers Registered Since 2019 Only 2,282 Placed

By: Nghiinomenwa-vali Erastus

In the last three years and six months, 65 936 unemployed and underemployed Namibians have digitally flocked to the ministry of labour’s online system in the hope of securing jobs or a better one.

However, in the same period, only 2 282 were taken up by the designated employers registered with the ministry.

This is according to the statistics requested by The Villager business desk from the labour, industrial relations, and employment creation ministry last week.

Out of the 65 936 jobseekers, the majority were female (34 508). Despite this, when it comes to placement, males dominated slightly.

The ministry, through its Namibia Integrated Employment Information System (NIEIS), registers job seekers, employers, and vacancies in the public and private sectors.

It plays the matchmakers by assisting job seekers in finding suitable employment and recommends suitably qualified job seekers to prospective employers.

Observation from the data, however, shows few jobseekers being placed despite them resorting to the online system to meet their future employers.

In the three years and six months, the ministry managed to register 1 006 employers. In the same period, these employers (entrepreneurs, public institutions, and investors) have signalled to the unemployed pool that they wanted 7 566 workers.

However, in the end, the employers only filled 2 282 of their vacant positions from the 65 936 unemployed and underemployed pool registered by labour.

Reasons are not presented in the paper why the employers selected few jobseekers despite an oversupply of labour.

Some of the reasons researched by The Villager Business Desk are that the employer could have hired outside the presented pool due to insufficient skills or experience within the NIEIS pool.

Secondly, some vacancies might be cancelled, as in years like 2020, many businesses scaled down, and recovery only started mostly but slowly in 2021.

Zooming in, the statistics also show that most of the placement (1 003) that were done by the ministry was in 2021 to 2022 compared to other years.

When it comes to gender composition, more male jobseekers, 1 249 were placed compared to 1 033 females.

The ministry has also indicated to the Villager that although there is a good number of designated employers registered with the Employment Service Bureau, it remains a concern as not all of them are fulfilling the provisions of the Employment Services Act.

“Most particularly by notifying the bureau of any vacancies occurring within their establishments. Some government ministries are also not spared from this non-adherence,” wrote the ministry.

This implies that there could be more vacancies created by the economy, but they were not reported to the bureau.

The ministry added that registering alone as a Designed Employer without putting into practice all the Act’s requirements does not do justice to the implementation of the Act, nor does it benefit registered job seekers in any way.

The statistics only cover those employers who are registered with the ministry. As a result, it gives a glimpse of the economy’s ability to create jobs and how the unemployment pool is expanding. Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na

Nghiinomenwa-vali Erastus

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