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Prioritise formal job creation, JCTR advises govt

Prioritise formal job creation, JCTR advises govt
By Misheck Wangwe
Fri 24 Dec. 2010, 04:00 CAT

THE government should prioritise formal job creation, says the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflections (JCTR). JCTR social conditions programmes coordinator, Miniva Chibuye, said the creation of decent employment was a precondition for sustained economic growth.

Chibuye said there was need for the government to show commitment towards employment creation if the country was to graduate from a low-income to a middle-income state.

She said it was distressing that while other countries around the world were recovering form the 2008 economic crisis, unemployment remained a challenge in Zambia.

“While there has been a creation of jobs for recent investments, much more needs to be done. The labour scenario is imprecise to lack of recent data showing how many Zambian workers who were laid off have been re-employed and how many were the new entrants,” Chibuye said.

She noted that the draft 2008 Labour Force Survey indicated that though formal employment grew to 522,761 in 2008 from 416,324 employees in 2005, its proportion of total employment remained low at only 10 per cent of total employment in the country.

Chibuye noted that the report had missed data from the post-economic crisis period.

She said during the economic crisis, Zambia was one of the countries heavily affected by job losses and a slowdown in employment creation due to heavy reliance on the copper industry.

Chibuye said most Zambians considered to be in employment had insecure incomes and had not been paid their arrears for a long time.

She said the high levels of unemployment had continued to perpetuate poverty and negatively affect human development due to people’s inability to earn a decent wage leading to a reduction in life expectancy and access to quality education.

Chibuye said the poverty situation in the country had been worsened by the high cost of living in many urban areas as evidenced by the JCTR’s Basic Needs Basket (BNB).

She said for the month of November 2010, the BNB showed a mixed picture.

Chibuye said the increases were a result of upward adjustments in the price of kapenta, dry fish, meat and eggs and many other essential food items.

According to the social conditions research programme of the JCTR, food items increased by K5,550 from K895,000 in October to K900,550 in November.

The total needs basket for a family of six in urban areas stood at K2,861,480 in the month of November.

Labels: INFORMAL ECONOMY, JCTR, MINIVA CHIBUYE

posted by MrK @ 9:34 AM