The federal government said Labour Market Information System (LMIS) is key for policy making, education planning, career guidance and enterprise strategies.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said this while declaring open a three-day workshop on Labour Market Information System on Wednesday in Abuja.
Ngige, represented by Ms Daju Kachollom, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said the workshop was imperative towards addressing the problem of unavailability of labour market information.
The minister said lack of labour market information had weakened the foundation of national planning and development.
“This is because LMIS can provide policy-makers and decision-makers with insights into current and future labour market trends.
“Well-established LMIS provide insight into both the supply side and the demand side of the labour market.
“Thus, helping to forecast trends for job seekers, training institutions, enterprises and policy-makers,’’he said.
Ngige added that the information on wages, working conditions and general labour market conditions were important for a number of stakeholders.
He said LMIS would be beneficial for students that were planning their career paths, job seekers that were searching for sustainable employments and enterprises that needed to remain competitive within the market.
He also said that the LMIS would be useful for trade unions that needed information in order to properly represent the interests of their members.
“Similarly, employers also need information on the availability of skilled labour, particularly if they are considering expanding a business line or adding new products and services.
“If we must generate comprehensive, reliable and up-to-date labour market information, there is need for better collaboration to maximise resources available, share information collected.
“We must create a referral system of job vacancies in order to streamline services for both enterprises and job seekers, ‘’he said.
The minister therefore, called for increased collaboration between employment service providers, industrial associations, trade unions, and employers’ organisations required for a successful public employment service.
He, however, said the current process of accessing LMI was ”unwieldy and cumbersome leading to avoidable waste of time and other valuable resources.”
He added that, it was in a bid to address these challenges that the ministry took the bold initiative to establish the LMIS in collaboration with other stakeholders.
“This is to bring together all the fragmented labour market information that we have across many ministries and agencies into one place.
“This is so that it can give tangible results for national policy making.
”Through this innovative approach, users of LMI will be able to access it through this source – the LMIS, ’’he said.
