SANAA: Thousands of Yemeni workers have been trained in 60 vocational institutes in three governorates in a bid for a short-term plan for preparing qualified workers to the Gulf market.
Hadi Abu Luhum, undersecretary of Labor Market Sector in the Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training (TEVT) told a local newspaper that his minister is working on preparing 60 vocational institutes in Sanaa, Aden and Taiz for training as many as forty thousands workers to join the Gulf labor market in the first quarter of this year as a first phase.
“The ministry is currently evaluating, with the related authorities, the needs of the Gulf market in order to train them (local workers) with skills that are needed there,” he told Al-Wahada weekly newspaper.
Through this program, the students are expected to acquire many skills in different disciplines including computers, the English language, how to be successful in the workplace, marketing, human resources, accounting and quality management.
In the same sense, a field study was prepared by TEVT and presented to the government expected than the Yemeni labor market is experiencing standing difficulties. The number of workers is expected to increase to 9 million in 2025 compared with 4,244,000 in 2007. It also showed that the rate of unemployment in Yemen is among the highest in the world and could have its toll on the economic and development in the country.
The study, which was published by Saba News Agency, stated that number of the new workers who join the labor market is 200,000 and simultaneously require creating the same amount of jobs for them and another 24 thousand for reducing the accumulated unemployment from the previous years.
The study attributed the high rate of unemployment and the growth of the size of the workforce to the incompatibility of the educational system with the needs of the labor market. The study called for expanding the training system with much focus on the areas that lack or suffering from a severe shortage of training services.
The study concluded by emphasizing the need to excluding Yemen workers in the Gulf countries from sponsorship system, and to facilitate entry visas procedures.
