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NewsDay

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The world needs to rethink employment

Columnists
WHEN one reads the stories of the African migrants to Europe together with violence in the United States, the Middle-East crisis and the Greek economy, it is easy to rush to a conclusion that the world might be on the verge of imploding.

WHEN one reads the stories of the African migrants to Europe together with violence in the United States, the Middle-East crisis and the Greek economy, it is easy to rush to a conclusion that the world might be on the verge of imploding.

A colleague once joked that in some African countries youth aspire to join the police force so they can own a roadblock because they have become one of the most paying stations.

No motorist wants to be delayed, so a dollar per roadblock does no harm. But considering that there are many cars passing through the roadblock, it makes it a lucrative business. The choice of a profession is no longer influenced by the desire to contribute to the development of society or what the job can offer in terms of salary, but by available opportunities in face of depleting wage value. This is true of most African countries.

In Zimbabwe, we have gone through several policy phases to deal with issues of employment or lack thereof. From educating everyone, co-operatives, small-scale enterprise, land reform, indigenisation and now vending.

All these policies are both national and individual reaction to a shrinking economy and deepening vulnerabilities. One important lesson we must draw from these developments is that the context in which we are operating is not providing opportunities for people.

Everyone works and wants to work, but there are no jobs. Rich people and nations who prioritised wealth accumulation at the expense of the poor are fast bearing the brunt as the poor are closing in on them. Europe is paying the prices with hundreds of thousands of African migrants arriving on their shores.

This is only what we read. There are a lot more from the Middle East fleeing fighting from that region. In the next few decades Europe will become a rainbow block as migrants settle, marry and become part of the social ecosystem.

Vegetable vendors in the downtown Harare.
Vegetable vendors in the downtown Harare.

It is a similar situation with the vendors in Harare. It is easy to blame everyone for careless and flawed policies, but the reality is that people are willing to take risks to feed their families and the majority of world economies have shifted from producing jobs to service jobs.

It is only in some Asian countries where these two sectors are still vibrant. The rest of the world, people have been pushed to the last resort; vending small wares and selling part-time labour.

But the signs were there for everyone to see a decade ago when only nearly 2,9 billion people of the world’s population of 15 years and above had an income. Back in 2005, the agricultural sector accounted for the largest portion of employees at 1,3 billion people.

That was the time when Zimbabwe was destroying its own agriculture sector, creating unemployment in that sector, including sectors that depended on it hence vending in front of our banks.

Globally, people providing labour to the agriculture sector have been leaving in large numbers to take up new opportunities in other less labour intensive service sectors.

It is these same sectors that are feeling the heat because less agriculture production means less supply of agriculture products to productive industry and less earning for the service sector. It is a loss for a wide spectrum of job opportunities from house cleaning, to vending and senior management.

As a result, not everyone who is willing to work can find a job. The underemployment rate has more than doubled in the past decade, which means the world is producing more skilled labour than it can absorb.

There is a big risk to this context as this category of underemployed and unemployed are young people who constitute more than a quarter of the world’s working age population.

More than half of the global youth population is unemployed, but is willing work and earn an income.

The situation for youth is even worse in developed countries because the environment offers limited options other than wait for a new job opportunity in shrinking economies.

The period of waiting does not only breed impatience, hunger and destitution, but leads to long-term harm as they forego on the job experience and skills, thus making them unemployable in the long term.

Depending on how each youth manages their situation in the long-run, it is the society that pays a heavy price for this situation, hence the need to rethink the link between employment and livelihood system, including the productive and service sectors.

Harare bears clear signs of what unemployment can do to a city. If anyone thinks vendors will stop in the city, you may need to think again.

They will soon invade upmarket shopping centres in the eastern suburbs, including at their residential gates. Problems have no history of solving themselves. Kicking vendors out of the city is not solving the problem.

Globally, when youth are disenchanted, they can turn to violence, crime or join the terrorist groups.

Tapiwa Gomo is a development consultant based in Pretoria, South Africa