UNLOCK MAXIMUM PRIVATE SECTOR POTENTIAL TO FULLY ABSORB THE JOBLESS-Jackson Silavwe

UNLOCK MAXIMUM PRIVATE SECTOR POTENTIAL TO FULLY ABSORB THE JOBLESS

07th February, 2024

The government cannot employ everybody. Reports indicate that the governments workforce is already bloated. Close to 8 million Zambians are unemployed and in the informal sector.

The solutions to our country’s high unemployment rates is in the private sector. Unfortunately, Zambia’s private sector lacks the capacity to absorb the jobless.

A look at the characteristics of the Zambian private sector explains why;

1. Small and stagnant. Whilst the Zambian working population has significantly grown, Zambia’s private sector has almost remained the same since independence.

2. Majority local businesses are small, medium and consumer based, few are in manufacturing or production.

3. Large companies are mostly owned by foreigners. Large companies are preoccupied with getting money out of Zambia, leaving us poorer.

4. Current Zambian private sector is urban centric. Located mainly along the line of rail. Economic activity in the rural areas is almost nonexistent.

5. Not clustered. Studies have shown that clustering different sectors of the economy increases production and innovation.

6. The cost of doing business in the private sector is high, high taxes and levies, transport/fuel costs, electricity, rentals etc

Solutions, In Part

1. Radical youth lead and based private sector. Taking maximum advantage of the youthful population.

2. Expansion of the private sector through comprehensive policy reforms beyond the pre-independence economy.

3. Deliberate investment in the expansion of local small, medium to large businesses, large to multi-national companies owned by Zambians.

4. New Zambian high quality start up in technology, innovation, agriculture, mining, agro-processing, energy, finance, technology etc. New locally owned companies.

5. Improve ease of doing business. A shift in taxing and levying focus of local businesses to productivity based benefits.

6. Creation of tax havens by law within Zambia for private sector expansion.

7. Radical financial sector reforms to support a local businesses which have been historically disadvantaged.

8. Private sector policy, tax and levies incentives for locally owned manufacturing companies.

The private sector in Zambia, must be in the forefront in translating jobless graduates and people of working age into employment.

We submit, that the without any radical changes in the private sector, all the economic policies to reduce unemployment are fake and false.

Silavwe Jackson
President
*GPZ