The vision of contributing to the creation of decent employment through inclusive economic growth is expected to take shape when the Department of Labour (DoL) officially launches the national Job Fairs event.
The official launch of the initiative in KwaZulu-Natal will run parallel with a provincial Jobs Summit. It will be held on July 5-6 at the Zululand Chamber of Business Foundation (ZCBF) Community, Guldengracht Street, Altron in Richards Bay.
The DoL’s initiative provides opportunities for work-seekers to meet with prospective employers, other organisations or Government Departments that can assist with their placement in different forms of employment or learning opportunities.
The Job Fairs are targeted at the unemployed youth who dropped out of school, unemployed youth with school exit certificates, unemployed graduates, workers who are under employed and retrenched workers.
In addition, the Fairs will be used to empower the unemployed with soft skills, information and face-to-face search for placement opportunities be they further learning, self-employment, co-operatives, community works or public works programmes and formal employment. They will run alongside an exhibition which offers attendees an opportunity to also interact with various government departments, the prospective employers, enterprise development organisations and a host of others.
President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is expected to deliver a keynote address at the gathering that will be held under the theme: “Jobs Summit and Jobs Fair – my job my future”.
Various national Ministers including Rural Development’s Gugile Nkwinti, Mineral Resource’s Susan Shabangu, Public Enterprise’s Malusi Gigaba, Economic Development’s Ebrahim Patel, chief executives of companies, Setas and State-owned Enterprises and development finance institutions will have representatives that will deliver papers at the summit.
The concept of Job Fairs was unveiled at the inaugural event held in East London last month. The Job Fairs are planned to be held nationally culminating in Gauteng in September. During the hosting of provincial Fairs, the DoL’s fully furnished state-of-the-art bus manned by trained counsellors will also be in attendance to register work seekers.
The Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant said the country is facing a huge challenge regarding joblessness. Statistics were showing that over 25% of the potential workforce were unemployed.
“But the statistics are cold numbers. Behind the statistics are real persons whose lives are not fulfilled. These people cannot feed or clothe their children, send them to school, cannot afford some of the most basic needs that many of us take for granted. Behind the statistics lies the tales of broken families, a breakdown of the very fabric of the society that we are trying to create but above all, there is a deep sense of indignity. There is no bigger assault on anyone’s dignity than the inability to meet the basic needs because of the scarcity of gainful employment.”
According to DoL, the Job Fair is among a range of initiatives being rolled out within the ambit of a branch called Public Employment Services as part of the DoL’s contribution to Government service delivery outcomes.
PES plans to register at least 600 000 work-seekers on its electronic platform called, the Employment System SA (Essa) by March 2013. The goal is to ensure that at least 450 000 work-seekers are placed in opportunities or provided with other DoL services within 30 days of registration.
PES branch will in its endeavours be using experience gathered from international multilateral forums to address the escalating youth unemployment.
The branch will be working closely with the private sector, the Unemployment Insurance Fund, Productivity SA, the Department of Higher Education in the implementation of the Training Lay-off scheme, and initiatives designed to save and create jobs.
Enquiries:
Musa Zondi
Cell: 0829018081
Jay Anand
Cell: 0845076743
DoL officially launches Job Fair to act on jobs for unemployed
