BOPEU proposes unemployment benefits programme

In a Botswana labour market policy booklet produced in consultation with Professor Happy Siphambe of the University of Botswana, BOPEU says having an unemployment benefit policy in the country is long overdue. BOPEU justifies the policy on the grounds that Botswana is a middle income economy and the high employment rate.

The union says the main challenge of unemployment benefits is the costs to government and the capacity and institutional requirement for a well-functioning public employment service. The evaluation of the programmes where they have been introduced has shown that they are an effective tool in poverty eradication.