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Johannesburg - The public employment services of the
department of labour have placed 96 505 people in job opportunities, the
department said on Tuesday.
Director General Nkosinathi Nhleko said in Parliament:
"The volume of placements depend on the availability of vacancies in the
economy."
Another constraint was that some people profiled though the
Employment Services for SA (ESSA) project could not be matched to jobs.
"There has to be a broader collaboration with all
players in the economic sphere on how we up-skill people with relevant
expertise and make them relevant in the job market," Nhleko said.
ESSA is an electronic platform to link job seekers and
employers. It now has 600 000 job seekers in its database and 2 475 registered
employers. There were also 1 162 private employment agencies registered by the
end of March.
Nhleko announced that the department had been able to save
15 165 jobs through social plan interventions.
This was possible because of the Unemployment Insurance
Fund's training lay-off scheme. Under the scheme, workers of companies
distressed by economic conditions could agree to forgo normal wages to attend
training.
They would be paid a training allowance.
Employers benefited by reducing payroll costs for the recovery period and their workers' skills levels were improved at limited cost.
