The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, has disclosed that the government has set up a tripartite technical committee to come out with modalities for the implementation of the National Unemployment Insurance Scheme (NUIS).
The NUIS is intended to serve as a security for formal sector workers who are likely to lose their jobs as a result of economic occurrences.
It will be recalled that President Akufo-Addo announced the introduction of the scheme during his 14th televised broadcast to the nation on ‘Ghana’s Enhanced Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic’ on Sunday, July 26, 2020.
Speaking at a Meet the Press Conference at the Information Ministry in Accra yesterday, Mr Baffour Awuah said the NUIS will, when operational, focus on providing direct income support to workers who lose their jobs or suffer pay cuts in the event of social or economic shocks when it becomes operational.
It will also offer opportunities for training, re-training, apprenticeship and internships to enable those who lose their jobs to re-adjust, and added that the scheme would be managed by the National Employment Trust Fund.
“Madam Chair, lessons are learnt whenever you encounter an unusual event. The impact of Covid-19 on jobs has actually taught us, as Ghanaians, to be able to withstand any such future occurrences, though we are praying nothing of that sought should happen.
“Because of that I am happy to inform you that government has taken steps to ensure that the nation is learning lessons from the pandemic. As you are already aware, government announced its intention of creating a National Unemployment Insurance Scheme.”
Yesterday’s meeting was hinged on the theme “Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) and the World of Work.”
In attendance at yesterday’s meeting were the Deputy Minister of Employment of Labour Relations, representatives of the Ghana Employers Association, as well as directors and officers of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
Explaining why there was the need for the establishment of the NUIS, the head of the Ministry, which mandate is to formulate policies on labour and employment issues, said that Ghana has not been able to achieve decent work outcomes because of the Covid-19 and its impact on the labour market.
Mr Baffour Awuah noted that a reduction in economic activities, as a result of the Covid-19, brought about job losses and pay-cuts.
He said a survey which had 44,000 employees being interviewed, emerged that 16,685, representing 40 % of the respondents, suffered pay-cuts.
On sector basis, Mr Baffour intimated that over 50% of workers in construction and services suffered pay-cuts to keep their jobs, while 29% of workers in fashion, entertainment, sports, restaurants and mining also suffered pay-cuts.
In the shipping industry, 18.9% workers suffered pay-cuts, while the financial sector saw just 5% pay cuts, which he described as very impressive.
He indicated that some of these workers suffered pay-cuts from 10-50 percent leading to low standards of living.
On job losses, the Minister also indicated that there were massive job lay-offs, hence, the need to create the NUIS to salvage some of these situations in future.
The post National Unemployment Insurance Scheme on course appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS