Employment agencies decentralised to district level |18 August 2012

The Minister for Labour and Human Resource Development Idith Alexander yesterday visited private employment agencies as well as regional labour officers stationed in various district administrations on Mahe.

She was accompanied by her principal secretary Veronique Bresson, special advisor on community development Dan Frichot, and a number of other senior officials from her ministry.

Minister Alexander said they have placed employment officers in district administrations since August to make jobseekers’ efforts easier, help them with follow-up work on their job applications and make sure they manage to get a job.

“Employment officers’ roles are to make easier the work of those seeking employment, help them with the necessary processes, liaise with employment agencies and do follow-up work after the jobseekers get employed,” she said.

“Since the placing of employment officers at district and regional level is a new move, we are now monitoring it to ensure that the process is implemented well.”

After visiting the JobPlus agency at Oceangate House, Minister Alexander also visited HEG agency at Roche Caiman, SMS agency at Anse Aux Pins as well as regional labour officers at Bel Ombre, Anse Etoile and Mont Fleuri.

She remarked that statistics have doubled for job placements at the JobPlus agency.

“Last month JobPlus helped 65 people get jobs, and this month – helped by the new measures we have put in place – they have managed to place over 140 people in employment, which are very encouraging figures,” she said.

“There are still areas for improvement though, such as communication. We need to better our ways of passing on information.”

She added that new measures also looking into include welfare cases.

“When a person comes to apply for social welfare at a district administration, the welfare officer will check if the person is in employment. If not, then the person is immediately referred to the employment officer, who will contact the various job agencies to enable the person to get a job. Others who might not necessarily qualify for a job are referred to certain schemes put in place by the government, where they can get the necessary skills to join the world of work,” she said.

The minister also asked employers to make sure that job cards are returned promptly when people get employed, as it affects their statistics collection efforts.

Jobseekers are encouraged to contact their district administrations to get dates and time that they can see employment officers to register and file their job applications.