Due to scarcity of jobs on the local market as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Ministry of Employment, Immigration and Civil Status, in collaboration with the Agency for Social Protection (ASP), will as from July 1, 2020 be introducing a new internship scheme for returning and local based graduates.

The scheme, acting as a safety net, will allow the graduates to work temporarily, though not in their related field of study, for an allowance of R8550 per month until relevant jobs in their field of study are available.

Post-secondary students will also be on an internship programme and they will receive an allowance of R5800 as part of their participation on the programme. The two internship programmes will start on July 1, 2020. The graduates and post-secondary students will be chanelled in sectors where at the moment job availability is high and if possible they will be placed in their areas of study.

It was the director general for employment promotions, Letimie Doogley, who made the statement after attending the usual post COVID-19 employment meeting for key stakeholders held every Tuesday and chaired by President Danny Faure.

In a press briefing at State House Annex, Mrs Doogley said that, among other employment matters discussed included the setting up of the Seychelles Employee Transition Scheme (SETS) for the re-skilling of workers who have and would further lose their jobs. Part of the discussion was centered on the current employment programmes of the employment department, in relation to returning and local university graduates and for post-secondary students.

She noted that the meeting had allowed the employment department to present its proposals in relation to employment incentives in its three on-going programmes, notably My First Job Scheme (targeting youths from professional centres), the Skills Development Programme (targeting youths between 15 years old and 30 years old) and the Unemployment Relief Scheme (targeting vulnerable people).

She further noted that the idea is to place as many people as possible, especially the youths, in employment, given the situation on the labour market in post COVID-19.

Other than the internship programme to start soon, she claimed that 2000 people are currently on all of those three programmes.

She noted that all the allowance schemes under those programmes have been adjusted. As example, she said that areas for job internships include restaurants, bars, take-aways, construction, delivery service and IT among others.

She claimed that participants on the internship programme will have to abide by set conditions among which is if they refuse to attend the internship programme or a job on offer, they will be removed from the progamme.

She noted that apart from the on-the-job training, participants on the internship programme will also benefit from assistance by The Guy Morel Institute.

She claimed that there are monitoring mechanisms in place to safeguard the smooth running of the internship programme.

The chief executive of ASP, Marcus Simeon, who was also present at the employment stakeholders meeting, said that due to the turnaround in the economy, the government has put in place measures and structures to protect employees still on the job and those looking for a job but are seeking assistance from the agency.

He added that people should not capitalise on the financial assistance given to them by government through staying at home and doing nothing but to make it their duty to work for the benefit of the country’s economy when they are offered a job opportunity.

Mr Simeon said that now is the time for people in employment to thrive to secure their jobs even though faced with the possibility of salary cuts, because the tendency shows that it will be difficult for someone to be reinstated in the same job as some else could have filled that post.

He said that 3000 people have registered as being unemployed and are seeking financial assistance from ASP. He noted that 10 to 15% of the 3000 people seeking assistance from ASP are on methadone.

Apart from President Faure, the private sector and trade unions, the meeting at State House yesterday morning was also attended by the Minister for Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, the Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Myriam Telemaque, the Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports & Marine Didier Dogley and other top officials from the employment and tourism departments.

The meeting continued with the inclusion of representatives from the health and police department and from the Division of Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM) to discuss strategies to further help businesses.

 

Patrick Joubert