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Training project for jobless to find their feet is now real

2010-03-09

A scheme to train and re-skill retrenched workers was launched by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana on Friday.

The Training of the Unemployed Project had so far registered 774 trainees who were receiving tuition in fields such as plumbing, boilermaking, welding, electrical and mechanics, he said in Johannesburg.

“With over 900,000 people having lost their jobs due to the recession, it is incumbent on us to find creative means of mitigating the impact of the recession on workers," he said.

"My department is fully involved in assisting in the overall government strategy of softening the impact of the economic crisis on the poor."

The project has seen 426 Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) beneficiaries get training to improve their skills in various trades.

"The other 348 candidates are youth who are non-UIF beneficiaries," Mdladlana said.

The UIF and other government entities contributed almost R50 million to train the candidates. All those in the project are paid a stipend of R2100 a month. UIF beneficiaries get their UIF benefits as well as the stipend.

Apart from the money contributed to train the workers, various government departments had expressed an interest in offering the candidates employment once they completed their training.

The qualifications the trainees would obtain at the end of their course met qualification requirements of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Education and Training Authority.

The project was started on October 1, 2009 and due to be completed on July 31, 2011.

"We are committed to ensure that the skills of the workers are aligned with the labour market demands."

The minister said the UIF would not deviate from its mandate of ensuring benefit payments to people who had lost their jobs.

"Section 48 (i) and (iv) of the Unemployment Insurance Act 2001, as amended, stipulates that the UIF Board must advise the minister on the creation of schemes to alleviate the effects of unemployment."

Sapa