The Eswatini government on Friday launched a skills audit programme that is expected to assess the level and quality of skills available in the country.
Labour Minister Makhosi Vilakati said the exercise is meant to identify gaps in available skills in Eswatini and feed into the development of programmes to address unemployment in the country.
“In recognising the importance of skills in the economy, government intends to scan the entire Eswatini economy to ascertain the level of skills base, establish appropriateness of skills placement and give pointers to skills productivity,” Vilakati said.
According to Vilakati, the exercise is expected to result in the development of a national human resource development plan that would, among other things, guide investment in higher and technical education and streamline enterprises training plans.
With a population of under two million people, Eswatini has an unemployment rate of around 23 percent, with youth unemployment estimated to be about 47.4 percent.
The programme is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Labour and Social Security & Eswatini Economic Policy Analysis and Research Centre with support from the Ministry of Education and Training.
JN/APA