The Department of Labour has launched a training programme to equip retrenched workers with new skills. This action follows reports that about one million South Africans lost their jobs last year as a result of the economic recession.

The Training of the Unemployed Project is currently teaching electricians, boiler-makers, welders and mechanics to start their own businesses. Commissioner of Unemployment Insurance Fund, Boas Serape says they intend training as many South Africans as possible. The project has so far registered 774 trainees.  

"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," Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said in a statement. "My department is fully involved in assisting in the overall government strategy of softening the impact of the economic crisis on the poor," he said.

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

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

Employment promise

The UIF and other government entities contributed almost R50 million to train the candidates. All those in the project are paid a stipend of R2 100 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 is due to be completed on July 31 2011. – Additional reporting by Sapa