Edward Mumbuu Jr
WINDHOEK – Statistics released by the Employment Equity Commission (EEC) indicate that 36 822 employment contracts were terminated during the 2017/18 financial period.
The sectors affected include agriculture, construction, fishing, manufacturing, tourism, wholesale and retail and mining.
The figures are contained in the EEC annual report which was submitted by Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation Minister Erkki Nghimtina to the National Assembly here last week.
The wholesale retail sector leads the pack with 12 580 employment contract terminations.
The report also indicates that the drought-hit agriculture sector recorded “a puzzling 69 per cent of the workforce who parted company with their employers during the period under review”. This translates into 5 469 employees whose employment contracts were terminated. Of this figure, 490 resigned, 1 535 employees’ contracts were not renewed, 45 were retrenched and 460 were dismissed for misconduct, while six lost their jobs due to incapacity.
Those who left their jobs for unspecified reasons are 2 933, the report shows.
In the construction sector, 5 383 employment contracts were discontinued.
“Non-renewal of employment contracts accounted, by far, 48 per cent, for the majority of employment contract terminations, followed by resignations (18 per cent), and dismissals through retrenchments, 15 per cent,” reads the report.
The next sector that was hit by terminations is the fishing industry, which saw 2 510 employment contracts terminated, a 25 per cent increase from the 2016/17 financial year.
Most employees (62 per cent) left the fishing industry due to non-renewal of employment contracts, while only 16 per cent resigned.
A further 9 per cent of employment contracts were terminated on account of misconduct.
In the manufacturing sector, 2 202 jobs were terminated.
A total of 38 per cent of employees resigned, followed by 22 per cent who parted ways with their employers for unspecified reasons, while the employment contracts of 14 per cent of workers were not renewed.
During the period in question, the mining sector had a combined workforce of 10 177 workers.
As for the public service, 6 328 cases of termination were recorded.
This is 30 per cent less than the previous financial year.
Most civil servants vacated their employment positions for unspecified reasons (48 per cent), followed by 30 per cent whose contracts were not renewed, while 19 per cent resigned.
Furthermore, the tourism sector recorded 2 350 employment contract terminations.
Most employees (59 per cent) left their jobs in this sector through resignation, while 16 per cent left for unspecified reasons
Meanwhile, 14 per cent of employees in this sector were dismissed due to misconduct, while dismissal due to incapacity constituted 0.3 per cent of terminations recorded.
– Nampa