Polokwane - Hundreds of unemployed youth in Limpopo on Friday turned out in large numbers to register for employment during the Department of Labour's Job Summit and Job Fair held in Polokwane.
Earlier this year, the Department launched the Job Fairs aimed at assisting unemployed youth. Through the Job Fairs, the unemployed youth are given an opportunity to interact with various government departments, prospective employers, enterprise development organizations and a host of others.
One of the unemployed youth, Petrus Molebatsi, 29, told SAnews that he had for the past six years been looking for employment. "I'm hopeful that this time I'm going to get a job," he said with a smile. Molebatsi completed his matric in 2006 and has never been employed.
Tryphina Mphomane, 25, said she was forced to leave university due to a lack of funding and was now looking for employment so she could continue with her studies. "I heard about the Job Fair and that we should come and register for employment. I am confident that I'm going to get a job," she said.
According to the department, Job Fairs are one of the initiatives being rolled out within the ambit of a branch called Public Employment Services (PES) as part of the department's contribution to government service delivery outcomes.
Initially PES planned to register at least 600 000 work-seekers on its electronic database called, the Employment System SA (Essa) by March 2013.
According to the Department of Labour spokesperson Page Boikanyo, over a million job-seekers have so far registered with the department for employment. "We will continue to register and assist those that are still coming," he said.
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.
At the Job Summit, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant urged employers to register their details on the departmental PES database.
Oliphant said her department had been registering job-seekers and matching them with available job opportunities and has also taken a conscious decision to go out and interact with job seekers so that it develops and designs different approaches that may be used in providing them with support.
"We have made a commitment to contribute to the creation of decent employment," she said.
