Minister of Labour Dr Nanda Gopaul said that over 7,000 out of school and unemployed youths were trained in five years under a national programme.
He added that the government’s policies and programmes to reduce unemployment are based on the strategy of providing training for skills that are in high demand in the labour market.
In a written response to the National Assembly, he was replying to a question posed by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament (MP) Africo Selman on what policies and programmes are being formulated to reduce unemployment and the timelines for their implementation.
According to a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA), Minister Gopaul explained that before formulating the training programmes of the National Training Project for Youth Empowerment (NTPYE), the ministry and the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) would examine information from the Statistical Unit on the trend of vacancies publicised in the labour market. In addition, the ministry and the BIT also held discussions with employers to secure training attachments for the trainees in the various Regions.
He stated that in summation, the strategy was to provide training for those skills that were in demand.
GINA said that the Minister explained that a significant number of the out of school youths who are unemployed lacked the requisite competencies demanded by employers.
He also stated that one of the measures implemented to combat unemployment, was the government’s expansion of the vocational training opportunities to not only target youths, but also adults, with the execution of programmes such as the NTPYE and the Single Parent Training programme. The premise being that the skills acquired will make them more marketable or improve their job prospects.
GINA said that Minister Gopaul explained that since the Government cannot find jobs for everyone, these programmes are fashioned with modules in entrepreneurial training so that the graduates can form themselves in groups and start their own businesses. The Labour Ministry has also been engaging the Co-ops Officers in the regions to deliver talks or hold discussions on cooperatives as well.
According to GINA the minister said that the NTPYE now has a budget in excess of $120M to facilitate training for out of school and unemployment youths.
He provided statistics on the numbers trained under the NTPYE, the single parent training programme and the BIT’s apprenticeship programme over the years in the various regions.
GINA said the NTPYE registered 1302 trainees in 2012. A total of 977 trainees graduated and another 184 would complete training in March 2013. In the last five years, (2008-2012) this programme trained 7058 out of school and unemployed youths; 571 in 2008 (230 males, 341 females,) 1143 in 2009 (449 males, 694 females,) 2047 in 2010 (912 males, 1135 females,) 1995 in 2011 (734 males, 1261 females) and 1302 in 2012 of which 447 were males and 855 females.
GINA said that in four years, (2209-2012) at a cost of $25M, the single parent training programme trained 1274 persons. In 2009 the programme successfully trained 257 persons (1 male and 256 females,) in 2010, 186, (1 male, 185 females,) in 2011, 423 (1 male and 422 females) and a total of 408 persons (2 males and 406 females) in 2012.
Meanwhile under BIT’s apprenticeship programme, 249 received training from 2008 to 2012, according to the information provided by the Minister; 48 males and 2 females for a total of 50 persons in 2008, 73 males and 3 females in 2009, 51 males in 2010, 69 males and 3 females in 2011 and 62 males and 2 males in 2012, GINA added.
