(THE MAST ONLINE) We are in a crisis of joblessness
(THE MAST ONLINE) We are in a crisis of joblessnessBy 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.
Labels: JOBS, NEOLIBERALISM, UNEMPLOYMENT
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posted by MrK @ 6:49 AM
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