Govt has no list of unemployed scarce skill professionals

It is opportune to revisit the scarce skills classifications as some positions might no longer be experiencing scarcity of potential employees.

Answering a question in Parliament during minister’s question time, Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Dumezweni Mthimkhulu said there is a possibility that the market for certain areas is already saturated.

He said professions which government recognises as scare skills include Medical Doctors; Engineers, Dentists, Architects, Quantity Surveyor, Town and Traffic Planners, Psychologists, Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians, Dieticians, Chemists; Architectural and Engineering Technicians; Economists , Geologists and Geophysicists, Veterinarians and Veterinary Technicians, Laboratory Scientists; Agricultural Scientific Officers and Economics, Lawyers, Judges and other legal professionals, Radiographers and Radiography Technicians; Occupational Therapists; Accountants and Account Technicians, Meteorologists, Computer Systems Designers, Analysts for Programmers, Teachers and Lecturers for Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Special Education and Accounts, Land and Estate Evaluation Specialists, Pilots and the Management Analysts.

Mthimkhulu said this is not an exhaustive list since others were added by courts of law and administrative reviews like Council Secretaries.

Mthimkhulu was answering a question from Member of Parliament for Molepolole North Oarabile Regoeng who asked him which professional qualifications are currently classified under the scarce skills category; how many Batswana holding such qualifications presently remain unemployed, and if it is not opportune to revisit the scarce skills classification.

Mhimkhulu explained that scarce skills allowance considerations are guided by the Attraction and Retention Policy for the Public Service, Public Service Management Directive No. 2 of 2008.

The policy’s main aim is to address identified problems of attracting and retaining appropriately qualified professionals required for identified public service positions and the scarce skills allowance has to entice people with skills or qualifications for identified positions to avail themselves to perform functions of positions experiencing scarce human resources.

He revealed that his ministry does not have readily available figures of Batswana holding such qualifications who presently remain unemployed.