Lusaka, 14 January, 2023 / 8:30 pm (ACI Africa).
Zambia’s government ought to grow the private sector to curb the high levels of unemployment in the Southern African nation, an official of an institution of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in the country has said.
In a statement reacting to the 2021 Labour Force` Survey (LFS) released in December, Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) Director, Fr. Alex Muyebe, says, the private sector is the biggest employer in the country.
The 2021 LFS indicates that 450,759 Zambians are unemployed; 38.7 percent of the unemployed persons are in rural areas while 61.3 percent dwell in urban areas.
“Government efforts in growing the private sector should be the best indicator of performance since the private sector is the largest employer. Government should therefore create a conducive and enabling business environment for private sector growth,” Fr. Muyebe says in the Saturday, January 7 statement.
Government alone “cannot absorb all the unemployed people,” the member of the Society of Jesus says.