Employment Department Satisfied with URS

^{The employment department under the portfolio of the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status held a press conference yesterday to detail the progress made on the Unemployment Relief Scheme (URS) which was re-introduced earlier this year with the aim of placing people who are on social welfare in employment.}

^{URS was introduced this year for four specific target groups including people who are dependent on social welfare, ex- convicts, people living with disabilities as well as those on the methadone or detox programme and aims to place them in full-time employment to reduce dependency on social welfare and other financial assistance.}

^{According to the director for special employment programme, Letimie Dookley, the programme was intended as a pilot in four districts, but the employment department decided to expand on account of high demand from district administrators and members of the National Assembly (MNAs).}

^{Between January and October, the department has registered a total of 1936 participants suggested to them by the welfare department, one of the many partners that the department collaborates with for the programme.}

^{Of the 1936 participants, 485 are youths aged between 15-24 years old.}

^{“360 are already employed on a full-time basis so they are no longer dependent on welfare. Out of those, 88 are aged between 15-24 years old and we also have 174 participants actively on the programme who are either working or gaining training,” Miss Dookley remarked.}

^{She added that the department is satisfied with the results that the programme is yielding and that they will continue to assist people to gain employment for their own benefit and especially for the benefit of their families.}

^{“We do not simply register people to put them into employment but we also take them on to training programmes and others that will help them to up their skills and make them employable so we can ensure that those who really want to work do get jobs,” she continued.} 

^{The Ministry of Employment, who administers the programme, collaborates with the Agency for Social Protection (ASP) and the Department for Poverty Alleviation to identify participants for the programme. Payments are made by the ASP on a weekly or monthly basis although Miss Dookley says that participants are encouraged to collect their salaries on a monthly basis.}

^{Monitoring of the individual participant is conducted through having an attendance book placed at their place of employment to be signed by the participant and superiors. The department then considers this on a weekly basis and communicates the relevant information to ASP.}

^{In terms of what kind of jobs the participants are placed in, Miss Dookley revealed that 94 private employers are registered with URS although the majority of positions are vacant at government departments and agencies.}

^{“Many are working at district administration offices and others working with agencies such as Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA) to clean and maintain trails. They are engaged mostly with community work but we have other jobs and these positions are helping them to develop their skills,” said Miss Dookley.}

^{Miss Dookley also stated that one of the major challenges faced by the department is that the target group may not necessarily want to be employed and thus do not cooperate when called in.}

^{Furthermore, they may not necessarily have required qualifications and skills for the types of jobs that they want or many of them want employment on a casual basis.}

^{Upon the request of the Department of Poverty Alleviation, the employment department also conducted door-to-door surveys in five districts, namely, Corgat Estate located in Mont Fleuri, Les Mamelles, Roche Caiman, Plaisance and Perseverance between April and October whereby 319 people who are unemployed were identified. Between April and October, 106 people have already been placed in work places with around 60 of them still unemployed while the rest are either awaiting response from interviews and awaiting interviews.}