-Employment exchange programme back

Employment exchange programme back

Ndola, June  4, 2013, ZANIS – Government has re-established the public employment exchange services programme which had been abandoned over the years.

And government had set aside KR7million in the 2013 budget for the re-establishment of the project and further increased the budget for the ministry of labour by 37 percent.

Minister of Labour and Social Security Fackson Shamenda revealed this in Ndola yesterday during the launch of the programme which is aimed at linking employers to prospective employees.

Mr Shamenda said government has just gone back to the drawing board in order to re-establish the tool in employment creation.

Mr Shamenda said the programme is an integral part of the nation to achieve and maintain full employment.

“These services facilitate the registration of job seekers and prospective employers as well as matching job seekers with employers,” Mr Shamenda said.

He said following the liberalisation of the economy the provision of the employment exchange services suffered serious setbacks which led to loss of confidence in the services.

He explained that through the public employment exchange services government would be able to monitor which skills are on demand in the country.

“The government will also determine whether there is a skills gap in the labour market and tailor training programmes towards skills that will be on demand,” Mr Shamenda explained.

He said the status of the Labour ministry had changed from being a social ministry to an economic one.

Speaking at the same function, chairperson for Workers Compensation Commission Alec Chirwa said the programme will assist in knowing the statistics of employment levels.

Mr Chirwa said the programme will further assist in the ability to monitor employment levels in the country.