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Unemployment Insurance Fund

UIF paid out R1.4bn in last quarter – Oliphant

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:54

Mildred Oliphant

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) paid out over R1.4 billion to unemployed and retrenched workers between April and June, the Minister of Labour Mildred Oliphant said today.

In response to a parliamentary question on the UIF raised in the National Assembly, from a ruling party member, Oliphant said the R1.4 billion included over R1.1 billion in unemployment benefits, R60.1 million in illness benefits, over R172.6 million in maternity benefits, R192 000 in adoption benefits and R86.5 million for dependents.

In the 2010/11 financial year, the fund paid out R5.3 billion to support unemployed workers, she said.

In reply to a question on how her department would ensure that the UIF’s R9 billion surplus in the financial year ending March 2011 would be used to benefit retrenched workers and the unemployed, Oliphant said all funds of the UIF had to be used to benefit the workers and employers that had contributed to the fund.

Oliphant said the UIF would continue to support the training lay-off scheme launched in 2009.

The fund had committed R1.2 billion, and 19 companies and 6 351 workers had been assisted through the scheme.

The UIF had also invested R2 billion in the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to stimulate work creation activities, she added.

The department is also using the surplus from the UIF to reintegrate unemployed workers into the labour market by upskilling them.

Oliphant said to ensure that the surplus is also used for the benefit of workers, she is considering making changes to the UIF legislation in consultation with the UIF Board.

“This relates mainly to improving the duration for which benefits are paid, from the current eight months to possibly 12 months,” she said.

In a second unrelated parliamentary question from a ruling party member – on whether she intended to transform the workplace following the recently-published Employment Equity Report - Oliphant said the responsibility of transforming the labour market was not hers alone, but rather fell on all South Africans, in particular employers.

The report revealed that white males still dominated senior management positions in the workplace.

She said the publishing of the 11th Annual Report of the Commission for Employment Equity should be seen as a national monitoring and evaluation tool of the progress achieved thus far in the transformation of the South African labour market, but that employers had fallen short.

“It is so unfortunate to note that the transformation cause seems to be met with resistance and lack of commitment,” said Oliphant. – BuaNews