ADDRESSING THE HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT LEVELS IN ZAMBIA

​Unemployment is said to exist when a person of working age (15 years or older) who is willing and able to work is unable to find a job. The definition brings out four important aspects for a person to be declared unemployed: i. The person should be willing to work; ii. The person should able to work; iii. Should be available to work (this excludes students); and iv. The person should be actively looking for work. In the 2021 Labour Force Survey (LFS) report, the Zambia Statistics Agency defines unemployed population includes all persons in the labour force (15 years or older) who are completely jobless and are available and actively looking for work during a given reference period. According to the 2021 LFS report, in 2021, the total number of unemployed persons was 450,759 of which 38.7 percent were in the rural areas and 61.3 percent in the urban areas. It is clear from this report that unemployment rate has consistently been higher among youths and females. In 2022 the Ministry of Health recruited in 30,000 teachers, the Ministry of Health recruited 11, 276 health workers whereas the Ministry of Defense recruited 5, 000 personnel. Other department such as Police and ZAWA also advertised for recruitment of several officers, but the number have not yet been made public. One thing to note is that the recruitment of teachers and health workers were the largest in recent history. For example, MOH read more