dance with employment needs in the private sector; to promote harmonious industrial relations; to provide minimum standards for worker's safety, health and welfare; and to encourage the development of a disciplined and productive workforce capable of contributing to economic growth.
The Ministry of Labor's responsibilities include the promotion of sound labor relations and support for collective bargaining. Government laws provide assistance in settling trade disputes and a mechanism for conflict resolution. Labor standards are crafted mainly to organize work conditions and employment, and to make them consistent with government laws and regulations. They include fixing a minimum wage, inspecting labor conditions, and overseeing health and safety programs and social security. The Ministry is more recently being drawn into activities to promote full and productive employment through training, to increase employment, and to attend to the special problems of women and migrant workers.
The organizational structure of the Ministry of Labor has been evolving to meet the nation's developmental goals and priorities. The Labor Department, established in 1904, provided the earliest institutional framework in labor administration. It was initially responsible for a wide range of activities including; supervising labor laws, administering the Employees Provident Fund, supervising industrial relations; and promoting employment opportunities. During its formative years, the Ministry of Labor had a limited role, being mainly concerned with the application of basic labor standards through the Labor Department and the Machinery Department. Today, its duties include the development of labor relations procedures for dispute settlement and industrial harmony. Since 1980, its principal concerns have been recognizing the potential of human resources for increasing labor productivity.
The Ministry has assumed a wider and more important role in ma...