Govt eyeing one million jobs by 2027

THE Government is keen on creating one million jobs by 2027 to cater for the increasing number of unemployed people in the country, Labour and Employment minister Kessy Sawang says.
Sawang said the Government had consultations with some development partners to create more jobs, train skilled labour and improve its revenue through the National Employment Policy.
“We had a consultation with Total Energies about the national labour of our workforce to up-skill them and provide more jobs,” Sawang said.
She said the Government would work in partnership with resource sectors like Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited (KPHL) including Total Energies to identify which labour force were needed and what training and skills would be provided.
She, however, said the Labour and Employment Department did not conduct a labour market information service to identify the type of labour needed and what training and skills to be provided to potential employers to use.
Sawang was responding to questions asked by Southern Highlands Governor William Powi in Parliament yesterday about the lack of local skilled labour force in the resource sector in the country.
Powi raised the concern following the development of multimillion projects like Papua Liquefied Natural Gas and P’yang along with other developing projects like Wafi-Golpu where skilled labour was brought in from other countries to work.
He asked if the Labour and Employment Department could establish the total number of manpower available, what kind of skills needed and how much were required to ensure the country would be able to prepare to cater for the development of upcoming projects.
“We cannot allow others to come and work in our country as the (Labour and Employment) minister must assure the country that there are consultation in progress to give us confidence,” Powi said.