*JOBLESSNESS A TICKING TIME BOMB… Population growth not matching economic prosperity.*
*25th April, 2024*
The population of Zambia has been growing rapidly since 1964, from about 3.6 million people to approximately 20 million in 2023. Unfortunately population growth has not matched jobs on the ground.
An estimated 5 million plus Zambians of working age are currently not employed. Those working, about 901,321 are in formal employment while 2,053,811 are in the informal sector.
It’s commendable that the UPND government have made some historical teacher and health personnel recruitments. Nonetheless, It is extremely erroneous to think that unemployment has been fixed.
It is also impossible for Government in any dispensation to employ 5 million people directly in Government. At the most Zambia needs about 100,000 new jobs every year to make a sensible dent on unemployment levels.
The best solutions to handle the high levels of unemployment remains within Zambia and it’s people;
1. Through the local private business sector. UPND Government must INITIATE LOCAL PRIVATE BUSINESS SECTOR REFORMS FOR MASS JOB CREATION never seen before since independence.
“Only a robust expanded local private sector has the capacity to to absorb the majority of our unemployed people.”
2. Through a Government aided policy to directly invest in Zambians through HIGH QUALITY START UPS across all the sectors of the economy, this is beyond the usual empowerment.
Matching the level of natural resources our country is endowed with it is very possible to bring down our Country’s unemployment levels to less than 1 percent of the working population in 10 to 15 years.
Silavwe Jackson
President
GPZ
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