ZCTU urges government to address high unemployment levels

THE Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has called on Government to devise a strategy for addressing the high unemployment levels which are impacting negatively on the majority of youths in the country.

ZCTU president Nkole Chishimba emphasised the need for the State to come up with a more robust youth-focused and employment creation national programme as a deliberate policy to address issues of high unemployment.
Mr Chishimba said in a statement in Kitwe yesterday that the Government should not only encourage the youth to go into the informal sector of the economy and begin to run income generating ventures but should instead go a step further by devising a more robust youth-focused skills and employment creation national programme.
“Government has to do more to convince the people that have remained pessimistic on its performance on delivering on their economic agenda of ‘more money’ in people’s pockets,” Mr Chishimba said.
The ZCTU leader acknowledged the ambitious programmes Government had embarked on such as construction and rehabilitation of roads, and other infrastructure including shopping malls and stadia which had resulted into the creation of employment for the youth.
“We need to move another step in bettering the status of those youths involved in the projects because whilst we all understand that projects in most cases are not a source of permanent employment, we note that it is quite frustrating for the young people to go back and join the queue of the unemployed,” he said.
Mr Chishimba to this effect, made proposal for a project completion package which should be in form of a separation package.
This would help the youth go a long way in sustaining their families through creation of their own informal employment activities.

TimesofZambia