Operationalization of the Labour Market Information System (LMIS) and upgrade of District Public Employment Centres are set to begin this year following World Bank’s commitment of US$200 million to support the project.
The operationalization of LMIS and upgrade of public employment centres are part of a four-component project meant to enhance skills development and job generation under the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project, an initiative developed to tackle the high rate of unemployment in the country which is expected to be implemented over five years.
The remaining three components of the project include provision of entrepreneurship and Small and Micro Enterprise (SME) Support for Jobs; provision of Apprenticeship Training for Jobs; and Capacity Development, Technical Assistance, and Project Management Support for Enhanced Skills and Jobs Impact. The primary target groups for the project include individuals seeking skills and jobs; master craft persons; cooperatives and associations; private enterprises and their workforces; as well as public and private training providers.
The LMIS is meant to be implemented as an automated, decentralised, and integrated Information Communication Technology (ICT) based one-stop mechanism to manage and coordinate data collection, processing, analysis and dissemination.
It is currently fragmented and scattered among a number of institutions such as Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Ghana Statistical Service, Private Employment Agencies among other institutions that collect data and report on the labour market.
Due to the absence of a functional labour market information system to harmonize and synchronize the existing fragmented data, current labour market information is not easily accessible. Some labour experts have noted that the lack of accurate and regularly updated information on the labour market undermines the effective implementation of employment-generating policies and programmes; as this makes it makes it difficult to trace their expected impact on the lives of the people.
A well established LMIS is expected to enhance the coordination and management of labour market information for use by stakeholders and this makes the operationalization of the Labour Market Information System and upgrade of District Public Employment Centres encouraging to job seekers.
Earlier this year, the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations Mr. Ignatius Baffour Awuah told the Goldstreet Business that negotiations are ongoing to resource all public employment centres across the country with digital technological equipment – primarily a central database, to track all job identified opportunities and training information after it has been fed with the required data.
This practice will enable all users have full access to available job openings and the requisite skills, education, working experience and thus will provide equal opportunity in accessing job availabilities online, thereby making the process much more transparent.
Currently, public employment centres lack the technological know-how and modern facilities to enable them carry out effective service delivery.
