Labour surveys must keep pace with market trends

We cannot plan to be a middle income economy by 2025 without taking stock of human resources available to deliver dream. It is only when we are settled on what we have can we plan for what to acquire for tomorrow.Employers, investors and the government need the survey for more informed planning.

The economic surveys generate some information on employment, but not to the depth required for labour market analysis.Considering the dynamism of labour markets, a lot of things have obviously changed since the last survey.

For example the emphasis on computer literacy might not have been as vital as it has become after the turn of the millennium.Then, it was simply an added advantage, but now it is a basic skill expected of every employee.

Also the years before, job competencies were assessed majorly on technical and professional skills.Now soft skills are coming into play in most jobs, and occupying a significant space among the parameters that heavily influence employers during recruitment.

There are emerging sectors which are acquiring importance in our economy and employing large numbers of people such as sports, logistics, entertainment and beauty.

Work structures have also changed. It would be good to know what the views of employees are with regard to emerging developments such as the seemingly more flexible horizontal promotions as opposed to the more competitive vertical promotions.

A lot of other things have changed in the job market, but they are not officially documented to the extent of being able to influence organisational policies and decisions about the management of human resource.

The rapid changes in the structure of the labour force and the increasing role played by the expanding informal sector in our economy suggest that surveys of this kind be conducted more regularly. Information collected by such surveys will facilitate better understanding of the dynamics of the labour market in general and the informal sector in particular.

Now, we have local councils, and given that each council will be in charge of its own development agenda, detailed information on council workforce and labour parameters would be crucial.

Right now, we are among the countries in Africa that still post outdated labour data, while some economically smaller countries have more recent information on their national labour markets.