Joblessness rate 'a major concern'

Namibians should not be satisfied with an unemployment rate of over 35%.This is according to founder and chairman of the International University of Management (IUM) governing council, Dr David Namwandi, who said there is a serious need for the creation of employment and wealth.The country's jobless rate was estimated at around 38% by the 2016 Namibia Labour Force Survey (NLFS) of the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), while almost 44% of the youth population remain without jobs. Namwandi was speaking yesterday during the official opening of the IUM Nkurenkuru campus academic year, where he called on all stakeholders to take the issue of unemployment seriously and try by all means address it.Namwandi stressed he cannot accept the fact that Namibia, with a population of about 2.4 million, has such a high unemployment rate, saying that in other countries, a 5% jobless rate was cause for concern.“We are just 2.4 million in this country and we are struggling to feed ourselves in terms of employment. Let us face it, it is totally unacceptable,” Namwandi said.“We are talking of an over 30% unemployment rate and still some people are comfortable with it, we should not be comfortable at all. Overseas, if people see that the unemployment is around 3 to 5%, they get worried, but we are content with over 30% unemployment.”Namwandi said as much as people place the blame on government, addressing national issues should be a collective effort, and therefore citizens should play their role and create employment opportunities.“The government is there to create a conducive environment in which we should operate in,” he said.Namwandi said IUM was not established to produce students who will only seek to become employees once they graduate. “IUM is not a factory to produce employees. We are producing employers. Our graduates should go out there and create jobs for themselves, their families, friends and the entire country, and in turn, generate wealth.”Namwandi used the opportunity to encourage students, saying there is no such thing as a wrong field of study and that it is up to them to make a success of the careers.Namwandi also spoke on the issue of companies requesting graduates to have a certain number of years of work experience before being employed.This, Namwandi said, will be addressed in the coming months, as IUM has decided to employ students while they are in their second year, which means that by the time the student graduates he or she would have obtained three years of work experience.He, however, stressed that not all second-year students will be employed, while hinting they will look at academic performance and discipline.KENYA KAMBOWE

Joblessness rate 'a major concern'

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-04

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Joblessness rate 'a major concern'

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-04

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