Employers want Government to review guidelines for migrant workers

Calls for the government to establish good labour migration policies heightened yesterday during the 59th Labour Day celebrations at Uhuru gardens.

Speakers pile pressure on the government to review the migration framework that guides movement of Kenyans abroad as they seek employment opportunity.

Federation of Kenya Employers Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline Mugo said that there exists global labour supply partly due to aging population in developed countries which points to emerging job opportunities for migrant workers.

“As employers we support government efforts in advocating for well-regulated labour migration. We need to improve our skills systems and labour migration policies to ensure that our people who migrate to work can compete for high income and quality jobs,” Mugo said adding that nearly two in every three entrants into the global workforce come from India and the sub Saharan Africa.

Unemployment rate

On her part, Labour Cabinet Secretary Florence Bore said that to address the high unemployment rate the government has continued to engage other governments who have a high demand for labour through initiating negotiation of bilateral labour agreements or memorandum of understanding to provide safe and orderly labour migration.

“We have retained foreign employment on top of our agenda and so far, we have pursued and signed four bilateral labour agreements and seven more are at advanced stage of negotiations while 14 are in draft form. The aim is not just to provide oversees opportunities, but also to encourage return of workers with enhanced capabilities,” CS Bore said.

Bore said that her ministry has put additional measures to ensure skills development is responsive to the labour market demand adding that the government launched the National Skills Inventory to map out the skills of all Kenyans seeking employment to enhance employability locally and abroad.

The CS advised job seekers to register on the National Employment Authority (NEA) website so that they can apply for 254, 312 active jobs that have been advertised by private recruitment agencies.

To foster work place harmony and acceptable work conditions, Bore said the Labour Inspectorate has processed over 11000 labour disputes and conducted more than 12000 workplace inspection and facilitated registration of an additional 334 collective bargaining agreements in the last one year.

 Meanwhile Mugo urged the government to focus on improving on productivity at local micro and macro level to further lower the unemployment rate.