Govt committed to upgrading labour departments – Minister

The government, as part of efforts to catch pace with the contemporary labour market, is upgrading logistical and human resources across labour departments in the country.

This exercise aims to turn around rudimentary processes and procedures at the labour depart­ments and thereby meet modern expectations.

Christened Public Employ­ment Centre (PEC), the project along aims to change the narrative and develop critical skills sets for national economic transformation, minimisation of the skills mismatch and reducing unemployment, among others.

Public Employment Centres (PECs), established by the Labour Act, 2003, provide the public with frontline labour market services, including job matching, job placement, counselling, provision and collection of labour market statistics and information, labour inspections and processing work­men’s compensation issues, among other labour-related services.

Currently, Ghana has 64 exist­ing PECs under the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations’ (MELR) supervision, operating as district offices of the Labour Department.

However, due to deterioration, many of the existing PECs are currently in deplorable conditions, hindering their ability to offer valu­able services to job- seekers and employers alike.

Addressing a function at Konongo-Odumase in the Asante Akim Central Municipality of the Ashanti Region, where he commis­sioned a newly constructed Public Employment Centre, the Minis­ter of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, disclosed that the government had noticed a gap in labour depart­ments across Ghana which was stifling their operations, hence the introduction of the PECs.

“We noticed that the world of work is changing and we needed to upgrade the logistical and human resources capacity of the Depart­ment to make it more competitive and capable of meeting contem­porary labour market needs,” he indicated.

According to Mr Baf­four-Awuah, at the onset of the project, they realised how uncoordi­nated the Ghanaian labour market was coupled with ill resources and inadequate information dissemina­tion for stakeholders.

“At the time of project design, we noticed that the fragmented nature of the labour market cou­pled with the deplorable state of infrastructure at the Department made it difficult for the Ministry to coordinate and promote employ­ment services.

“The Department was heavily constrained in terms of the collec­tion and dissemination of informa­tion regarding interactions in the labour market to enable stake­holders (employers, jobseekers, training institutions, curriculum developers and policy makers) take informed decisions about the dynamics of the labour market, ” he underlined.

He told the forum that the newly constructed PECs was one way of positioning of the LD to enable it to provide quality services to employers, jobseekers and training institutions.

According to the Minister, the project, aimed at enhancing avenues for jobseekers to make enquiries about the availability of job vacancies, post their career profiles on the Ghana Labour Market Information System (GLMIS) and interact with em­ployers.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Asante-Akim Central, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, lauded the government for the project, adding that it would go a long way in shaping issues related to labour and employment.

The Krontihene for Konon­go- Odumase, Nana Asiedu Kot­wi, applauded the government for the PEC, and called for a good maintenance culture to expand its lifespan.

Nana Kotwi also urged the public to desist from using the PEC for their house chores

 FROM KINGSLEY E. HOPE, KONONGO