Employers with ten and more workers will now be required to inform the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation of any vacancies in their establishments.

Currently, employers with more than 25 employees, referred to as Designated Employers in the Labour Act, are required to inform the ministry of vacancies, but this threshold has been reduced to 10.

The new requirement will come into effect on 30 September 2023.

The vacancies will be loaded on the ministry's jobseekers'  database of through which relevant employers are informed of suitably qualified unemployed persons.

The ministry in a statement released today says the change of the threshold from 25 to 10 will extend the Designated Employer definition to the informal settlement, where a significant part of the labour force is employed.

Designated Employers will be required to consider in good faith any suitably qualified jobseeker referred to it by the Ministry of Labour.

Last year alone, the ministry registered 494 Designated Employers and placed 2 200 unemployed with various establishments.

Any employer under this provision who fails to comply with this requirement is liable to a fine of N$ 20 000 or imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both.