8/8/2019 Ministerial Statement by Immanuel Ngatjizeko Employment Bill

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REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA

STATEMENTBYHON. IMMANUEL NGAT JIZEKO, MPMINISTER OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFAREINTRODUCLNGIHEEMELQYM_E_NI_S_ERVICESBILL IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

21 September 2010

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Honourable SpeakerHonourable Members of the National Assembly

I am honoured to rise to introduce the Employment Services Bill.

Unemployment and the need to create sustainable employment for our people isone of the most-talked about and challenging problems facing Namibia. This billis one of a series of legislative and practical measures that will be introduced byGovernment to place the creation and facilitation of employment on centre stagein the drive for national economic and social development.

The Employment Services Bill is intended to achieve the following:

1. to establish the National Employment Service, which consists of theEmployment Service Committee and the Employment Service Bureau.

2. to establish an electronic Integrated Employment Information System;3. to regulate Private Employment Agencies;

4. to advise on available skills in the labour market and on the employmentof non-citizens.

I will now discuss its provisions briefly:

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E~tablishment of National Employment Service

In accordance with international best practices, Part 2 of the EmploymentServices Bill places the professionalservices to the labourmarket offered by theMinistry of Labour and Social Welfare on a statutory footing, while providing anadvisory and oversight body. This is provided through a National EmploymentService established in Clause2, which consists of the following two components:

1. The Employment Services Board appointed by the Minister andcomposed of representatives of the State, trade unions and employers'organizations, plus experts in the fields of labour, immigration andeducation.The Board's functions include:

advising the Ministeron the provision of employment services and relatedlegislation;

analyzing labour market developments concerning occupations andrelated training;

advising the Ministeron the regulationof private employment agencies; facilitating and coordinating multi-sectoral cooperation in relation to theobjects of the Act.

(Clauses3 and 4).

The Minister will table the report of the Board annually in the NationalAssembly. (Clause 12).

2. Employment Services Bureau, which is staffed by public servantemployment officers appointed by the Minister in terms of clause 29 andemployed in the Ministry's Directorate responsible for Labour MarketServices. The bureau has a wide range of functions, including: Registering job-seekers and registering vacancies in the public andprivate sectors;

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Assisting job-seekers in finding suitable employment and to refersuitably-qualified job-seekers to prospective employers;

Providing vocational guidance, career and labour market information; Regulating and controlling the use of psychometric tests for selectionand recruitment purposes;

Assisting and facilitating research for the board on employment-relatedmatters;

Maintaining the integrated employment information system establishedby the Act;

Maintaining a list of non-Namibian citizens granted work permits andadvising the Minister on the training of Namibians in those occupations;and

Liaising with the Ministry responsible for education in respect ofeducational and vocational training institutions and on vocationalattachments and internships.

(Clause 13).

Clause 14 of the bill establishes an Integrated Employment InformationSystem to be established and operated by the bureau. To collect, store andupdate information concerning: names, qualifications and occupations of job-seekers; vacancies in the labour market; training opportunities for retrenched workers and jobseekers; specialized skills and qualifications possessed by Namibian citizens andpermanent residents;

specialized skills and qualifications possessed by non-citizens residing inNamibia; and

employers in Namibia.

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Part 3 ofthe Bill sets forth the obligations of designated employers andinstitutions to provide information required by the bureau to facilitate employmentand training.

Clause 15 provides for the Minister to designate the categories of employers towhom the provisions of this part apply, after consultation with the Board.

The principal obligation imposed on designated employers, whether existing or tobe newly established is to notify the bureau of any vacancy or new position,whether temporary or permanent, in its employment establishment, within aperiod of time to be prescribed by the Minister, in accordance with clause 16.The designated employer will be required to provide such information as theminimum qualifications and requirements for employment in such a position andthe date by which the position is to be filled. Clause 16 further requires that thebureau, upon receiving a notice of vacancy, must ascertain whether suitably-qualified persons are registered with the integrated employment informationsystem and are available for work, and must refer the particulars of such job-seekers within a prescribed period of time. Although the bill does not requireprospective employers to hire such persons, it requires that

"No designated employer or prospective employer may fill a vacancy or anew position without considering in good faith any suitably-qualified jobseek referred ... by the bureau ... "

Clause 16 also requires prospective employers to report to the bureau whether ithired a job-seeker referred by the bureau and to provide other informationrequired.

Clause 17 requires designated employers to submit a profile of its establishmentto the bureau, which will include such information as:

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the number of positions. according to occupation, includingapprenticeships, job attachments and vacancies;

details concerning Namibian and non-Namibian employees; salary ranges for each occupation; available skills development loans, bursaries and scholarships offered bythe employer.

Clause 18 provides for the Minister to designate educational, training or otherinstitutions that are required to submit information to the bureau, such asinformation concerning: persons who completed accredited educational programmes; persons who are currently in such programmes; and courses offered.

Although employment officers in the Ministry engage in "job canvassing" atpresent to identify vacancies in the labour market, they must rely on thewillingness of employers to provide information. This has proven not to beadequate. The new provision will compel employers to cooperate in providingrelevant information, particularly about the structure of their workforces and theexistence of vacancies. This will greatly enhance the prospects of unemployedpersons finding suitable employment, employers finding employees with theappropriate skills and experience, of interested persons finding training andbursary opportunities, and of stakeholders ascertaining the changing skills needsof the labour market on an on-going basis.

Private Employment AgenciesThe Bill also provides for the regulation of Private Employment Agencies, takingthe lead from ILO convention 181 on Private Employment Agencies, 1997.Private employment agenCies, as defined in clause 1, will be required to registerwith the Bureau, and they may not operate unless they have been issued with alicense to operate as such and comply with statutory requirements (Clause 19).

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The bill provides that such aqencies may not charge fees to jobseekers (Clause24). It also sets forth the obligationS' of private employment agencies, whichinclude prohibitions against: discriminating in the advertisement of positions or in the recruitment orreferral of persons for employment;

referring persons for prospective employment to an employer thato has an outstanding compliance order issued by a Labour Inspectorin terms of the Labour Act, 2007;

o is not in good standing in respect of contributions to the SocialSecurity Commission; and

o has not complied with statutory affirmative action requirements. referring employees to a prospective employer unless the prospectiveemployer gives an undertaking to employ every individual on terms andconditions not less favourable than those provided for in a collectiveagreement or prevailing for similar work in the industry and region ofemployment.

The afore-mentioned provisions are intended to facilitate achievement of theemployment that provides a living wage and decent work.

Part 5 provides for the appointment, duties and powers of employment officers.The powers are similar to those of labour inspectors.

Finally, the Act provides criminal penalties in the several parts for violations ofthe various obligations imposed by the Act.

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,t!J

Honourab le Speake rHonourable Members,

The Employment Services bill has the potential to foster a new era ofcooperation between government and key stakeholders in order to provideprofessional, timely and relevantservices to the labourmarket. Itwill introducearegime that requires the commitment in particular of employers to provideinformation that is needed for the purposes of coordination and planning foremployment. And it will count on the good will of businesses to utilize theservices of the integrated employment information system to give theunemployed a chance to be considered for employment on the basis ofqualifications, regardlessof their family backgroundsor personalconnections.We are confidentthat we as a nationare equal to the challenge.

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