The Department of Labour (DOL) is requesting employers to recruit through its Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) database.
The system has previously been criticised for poor performance. The department in 2010 revealed, in response to a parliamentary question, that the system had only placed 2% of the more than a million work-seekers who registered with the project since its inception, at that point four years ago.
The DOL this week held stakeholder briefing sessions at Graff Reinet, Janseville and Willowmore.
It explains that ESSA registers work-seekers on the database so that employers avail opportunities to be matched automatically in the system. It assists employers in finding the candidates they require and the best candidate is matched for the job.
The briefing sessions provide a platform for the DOL to brief employers about its public employment services with the aim that they will bring in opportunities, said the department.
“Companies like DaimlerChrysler, Boxer, Buirmasters, and Villa Reinet B&B have started recruiting through our database and abandoned their own recruitment strategies. We appeal to other companies to come forward and follow suit.”
Still something
Mayor of Graff Reinet, Hannah Makoba, committed that the municipality will work together with the department in assisting the unemployed registering on the database and also those recruiting through it.
“The word must go out there to communities that work-seekers must register in the DOL database. My son registered in the DOL database and he was called to interviews and hired on a contract basis. Some people might say he is unemployed, but at least he is doing something,” said the mayor.
“The mandate of the department is that of contributing to employment creation; therefore, the department is requesting all employers to recruit from our database to increase available opportunities. Therefore, work-seekers will definitely be placed in jobs,” said the department.
Poor match
A year ago, only about 700 000 of the then 4.3 million unemployed people in SA were registered as work-seekers on the ESSA system.
This figure had not changed since 2008, according to the DOL. “The challenges ESSA is facing include staff and IT systems' capacity, inter-relationships between stakeholders, and matching and placing more work-seekers in employment.”
There were 2 714 employers registered on ESSA. For the period 2007 to 2010, 251 748 opportunities were registered with the system.
The Democratic Alliance said the ESSA numbers, when broken down according to the project's performance each year since 2007, reveal a grim picture of a system that has grossly under-performed.
“In the 2007/8 year, the system registered 169 059 work-seekers, and only placed 3% of them, with 5 578 finding work. In the 2008/9 and 2009/10 years, the ESSA registered 421 686 and 636 140 people, respectively, and only placed 3.5% in 2008/9 and 1% in 2009/10,” explained DOL spokesperson Page Boikanyo.
“Job criteria is matched 100% to a given job-seeker profile. For example, Grade 12 with two years' experience may not be matched with one of Grade 12 and 10 years' experience for the same job opportunity.”
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