Thursday, August 02, 2018

(THE MAST ONLINE) We are in a crisis of joblessness

(THE MAST ONLINE) We are in a crisis of joblessness
By The Mast
on July 31, 2018

“Unemployment has reached crisis proportions and I can assure you that a revolution is on the horizon,” says Saviour Chishimba. He is right. Last week the Zambia Police Service received 57,601 applications in the recent recruitment exercise for 1,000 constable positions – Lusaka received 10,000 applications, Copperbelt had 9,000, Southern had 6,000, North-Western Province, 5,278, Western Province had 5,113, Muchinga Province had 5,020, Eastern Province had 4,800, Northern Province had 4,605, and Luapula Province had 4,006 while Central Province had 3,779.

“How can a country with stable leadership, with a stable economy as they claim, have more than 50,000 people applying for 1,000 job positions?” asks Chishimba.

One of the primary transmission channels of the economic crisis Zambians are today enduring is through the labour market. Unemployment is increasing sharply, and unemployment lasting much longer. And those workers who are keeping their jobs are taking home smaller and smaller cash, as companies are trying to reduce labour and other costs to survive. Some are increasingly accumulating wage arrears. And youths leaving school, college or university are struggling to secure their first job.

Families are forced to make significant adjustments in expenses. Food expenditures are declining. The necessary medicines can’t be bought. Many families are making extraordinary effort to keep children in school. It’s increasingly becoming very difficult for many parents to pay school fees. Some are forced to change schools for their children because of fees. Many children in the compounds can’t go to school because of fees.

Confronted by an income shock, many families are taking steps to reduce expenditures, but some of those measures – food expenditures, health care utilisation – could have a serious impact on nutrition and health in the long run. But our politicians in government seem to be in denial. And as such no measures are being taken to protect human welfare and long-term human capital.

We are also not seeing any additional measures being undertaken to ensure access to health and education services, especially for the poorest in the population.

Unemployment is rising sharply. More and more men are losing jobs as the male-dominated construction sector is starting to feel the effects of reducing government expenditure on infrastructure projects. Youth unemployment is reaching record highs as first time jobs are increasingly becoming hard to find. Long-term unemployment is also increasing as re-entry into the labour market is becoming exceedingly difficult for those who have lost jobs.

Workers are being forced by job losses to take reduced pay. An increasing number of workers are forced to take less pay in order to stay in employment.

Many companies are struggling to survive and are forced to reduce real wages and are accumulating huge wage arrears.

A major risk is that much of this unemployment is becoming structural in nature as many of the unemployed drift into long-term joblessness or drop out of the labour force. This unwelcome phenomenon may take many years, if at all, to bring joblessness back down. This persistence in unemployment arises because the longterm unemployed become less attractive hires for employers as a result of declining human capital and diminished job-search activity. Moreover, persistently high unemployment brings other major social and economic costs in its wake, from poorer health, lower living standards and less life satisfaction for the unemployed and their families to increased crime and lower growth potential for society.

Politics dictates that the politicians running government must intervene energetically to reduce the suffering of our people.
We believe the nature of employment is fundamentally changing and cannot be reversed. But workers, businesses and the government can prepare for it if they work together.

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(LUSAKA TIMES) First Quantum posts rise in Q2 copper output, braces for power cuts in Zambia

COMMENT - I like the word extraction much more than production. The copper was already there. - MrK

(LUSAKA TIMES) First Quantum posts rise in Q2 copper output, braces for power cuts in Zambia
August 2, 2018

First Quantum Minerals saw an increase in copper output in the second quarter and is now bracing for a month-long power supply reduction at its Kansanshi and Sentinel copper mines in Zambia.
First Quantum Minerals CEO Clive Newall told analysts during a conference call on Tuesday that the company produced 150,950 mt of copper over April-June, up from 141,912 mt a year earlier.

Mr Newall said first half production totaled 296,308 mt, up from 274,268 mt in H1 2017.

“Our copper production exceeded last year’s comparable period as drier weather conditions in Zambia returned,” Mr. Newall said.

“While metal prices are being negatively affected by global political concerns, demand for copper remains robust. We continue to sell all of our production into a market where there is excess demand.”

Mr. Newall said his company has been advised by ZESCO that electricity to First Quantum’s Kansanshi and Sentinel mines will be reduced from around end July to facilitate maintenance and upgrades to the electricity network.

However, the power cuts are expected to be “only marginally below what we need to run optimally,” he said.

“It’s not going to have a material impact on our guidance going forward and we’re doing what we can to make the most of the power that is available,” he added.

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Wednesday, August 01, 2018

(COINTELEGRAPH) Overstock Subsidiary Partners With Zambian Gov’t on Blockchain Land Registry

COMMENT - Watch out with these 'title deeds', because the bank ends up owning the land. They know most startups go bust, so they are in it for the land. - MrK

(COINTELEGRAPH) Overstock Subsidiary Partners With Zambian Gov’t on Blockchain Land Registry
By William Suberg

Zambia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the blockchain land registry subsidiary of American retail giant Overstock, the company revealed in a press release July 31.

Under the agreement, Overstock’s Medici Land Governance (MLG) will work with the Zambian government on overhauling land ownership, allowing rural landowners to legitimize their estates and gain access to the financial world.

“Without formal ownership, individuals struggle to obtain access to credit and public services, while governments are limited in their ability to collect taxes, enforce property rights, and plan for economic expansion and innovation,” the release explains, continuing:
“Using blockchain and other technologies, Medici Land Governance […] will create systems to collect and easily secure property ownership information.”

Discussing the Medici venture, the subsidiary’s CEO Dr. Ali El Husseini called its partnership with Zambia “momentous.”
“[The partnership] has the potential to be a real, sustainable game-changer in reducing poverty and supporting economic development on a large scale,” he added.

Blockchain land projects have been underway across the world for several years, the technology offering a promising solution to fragmented paper records and unverifiable claims.

This week, the world’s fourth-largest bank by assets, Agricultural Bank of China, confirmed it had issued a blockchain-based loan backed by land.

Overstock continues to make multiple inroads across blockchain and cryptocurrency-related spheres, despite warnings earlier this year that its share price was suffering and its future could involve upheaval.

The company currently has fourteen ventures in its Medici Blockchain accelerator, to which MLG is the most recent addition.


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