5 DAYS TO AFCON APPEARANCE BY CHIPOLOPOLO THE JOB CREATION AGENDA GAINING MOMENTUM: ECONOMICS GURUS AT WORK!!! ====================================================== During this campaign we have heard some opposition political parties they will create employment but fail to explicitly explain how they will do so. Let me tackle this hot topic of job creation. When discussing job creation l will also tackle income creation. There are two ways government creates incomes or jobs for citizens. The first one is directly employing citizens into the civil service while the second one is creating an enabling environment for people to get jobs outside government both formal and informal. People are employed to provide a service and the more people you have working on a task which can be effectively done by one person the poorer the outcome gets because diminishing returns set in. However there are tasks which should ideally be done by many people but are done by one person so in this case getting more people makes the tasks be done better and faster. There are also new tasks that come on board that require people to do them. These simple realities help understand how a job is created and why jobs cant just be created by simply saying 20, 000 people are unemployed so let them come and start work tomorrow. Based on this lets understand jobs created in a given period of time as the number of new jobs created minus total number of jobs lost without replacement. We should not count replacement as jobs created. Similarly, government creates incomes for citizens through direct business with them or creating an enabling environment for people to invest and conduct business. Having given this background let me tackle job and income creation in terms of policies, strategies and programs. Government is implementing notable policies that address employment issues and these include: -The crosscutting Employment and Labour Market Policy; -The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Policy; -The National Youth Policy; -The TEVET Policy; -The Gender Policy; -Agricultural policies; and -The Decentralisation Policy Working with the wisdom that not everything done by previous governments was bad the PF government enhanced access of small entrepreneurs to credit by setting up and strengthening existing programmes such as: -The Citizens Economic Empowerment Fund; -The Youth Empowerment Fund -The women economic empowerment fund -Business Development Support programmes under various Ministries such as Community Development, Commerce, Agriculture, Gender, Youth and Sport, Mines, Education, Science and Technology among others. Under the PF government major changes have been made to these programs. These key changes include: - Reviewed the selection process to endure that it is transparent, proposals are selected on merit and demonstrate the capacity to pay back; -strengthened entrepreneurial training and ongoing technical support to drive up success levels; - Introduced robust on going monitoring of projects to ensure they are on track and necessary measures are taken before projects go way off-track; and -Strengthened debt collection so ensure sustainability of the programmes. The PF government has also stepped up other measures which will create employment and expand incomes. These include: -The formation of more industrial estates such as the Chinika complex and Makeni Complex -Establishing more multi facility economic zones such as the Lusaka south multi facility economic zone. -Reopening and recapitalisation of industries such as: Zambia Railways, Tazara, Cashew nut industry, Kawambwa Tea, Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia, Mulungushi Textiles, Kapiri Glass, Kasama Tea and many others to be revamped. -Opening up of new districts where a lot of jobs have been created and the numbers will increase as economic activity gains momentum. A lot of income is created in the process both in the formal and informal sectors. -The massive infrastructural development program has also created incomes for citizens through short to medium term jobs and business expansion in terms of supplying construction materials. -Stepped up measures of implementing the Zambianization Policy to ensure that unless the skill is not available in Zambia, all employment shall be performed by Zambians. This is in advanced stage. -Strengthening of investment bodies like ZDA and maintaining an attractive investment atmosphere through maintaining peace, stable political atmosphere, sound economic management strategies and policies. -Introduction of a youth national service skills development program through the underutilized infrastructure in the Zambia National Service (ZNS). -Stepped up vocational and technical training by expanding enrollment and ensuring students graduate with start-up tools and are linked to empowerment funds. -In advanced stages of fostering public and private partnership programmes in tertiary institutions through compulsory attachments for students, increased guest lecturing in colleges and universities by relevant institutions and incentivising employment of graduates through favourable economic instruments. -Putting jobs created as one of the key benchmarks for awarding of tenders It should be noted that government is in advanced stages of implementing and enforcing measures which will: -curb casualisation of labour, -enforce compliance to minimum wage -Ensure progressive adjustment of civil service salaries and tax exemption threshold -Expand tax-base to give workers progressive tax relief - strengthen, protect and support union movements both in the private and public sectors to foster progressive conditions of service adjustment and reduce unrest and disruptions. All the above policies, strategies and programs are moving well advanced with a lot yielding desired results already. These will soon burst into significant job and income creation which will further grow the economy, reduce poverty and move Zambia to a different level. It should be noted that policy takes time to mature and job creation should be realised within broader economic growth and thats why significant employment increase could not be seen within a year or two. This is how an economy operates and any attempt to force these job creation programs to yield more jobs within a few months can result into severe economic consequences which can lead to more job losses and economic collapse. The PF government will remain truthful to the people and explain measures being taken to create jobs and further emphasise that it will never politicise this highly contentious job creation agenda as others may do. Job creation goes through stages and is only sustainable if it is a result of broader economic growth. Further it should be seen in terms of income creation where young people are becoming employers and not employees. It should be further emphasised that there is no magic bullet to creating decent jobs, it starts with more short term jobs which culminate into long term to permanent with improved incomes as the economy matures. The PF government job and income creation agenda is well on track and statistical institutions are being strengthened to accurately track job creation and provide reliable and timely updates. What more can l say fellow Zambians? PF is here for centuries as we say nothing but the truth. Lies are sweet but Zambians are more enlightened now. They can tell who is telling the truth. Vote Edgar Lungu Vote PF Ifintu ni Lungu.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 04:26:00 +0000
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