Pretoria - Some employers in the minibus taxi, catering and domestic sectors are not contributing to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) because it is capturing incorrect information, according to a study released on Monday.
Employers are also not complying with the sectoral determination requirement to pay because of financial constraints and out of ignorance, the study found.
In the taxi industry, there is non-compliance because drivers aere constantly changing employers, said the labour department's UIF spokesperson Muzi Mkhwanazi.
Another contributor is the informal nature of the industry, with owners and drivers shifting the blame to one another.
Mkhwanazi said non-compliance does not mean only non-payment, but also relates to owners' inability to update their records and make monthly UIF declarations.
The study found that, overall, the public was satisfied with the services offered by the UIF, said Mkhwanazi.
Researchers recommended consistency in enforcement of compliance and found that there was a need to change perceptions about the UIF as a weak, short-term instrument to deal with the risk of unemployment.
The UIF is managed by the labour department and is the government's way of easing the hardship of unemployment. Employers and employees are obliged to contribute.
The study also examined the effectiveness of the department's employment service, which job seekers and prospective employers can register for.
The system matches people to posts.
Over 700 000 of the 4.3 million unemployed people were registered as job-seekers on the system. This had not changed since 2008.
The study showed that of the 4.3 million unemployed, only 14.5% were registered for UIF.