Wed, 14 Jun 2017 11:02:35 +0000
By CHINTU MALAMBO
GOVERNMENT should prioritise the growth of the informal sector particularly aspects to do with entrepreneurship, Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) Executive Director, Patrick Shindano has said.
In an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Shindano said according to the Labour Force Market Survey, more than 80 percent of people were in informal sector and less than 20 percent were in the formal sector.
“If we are to successfully achieve our aim to reduce poverty, I think that Government should prioritise to grow the informal sector instead of focusing more on the formal employment.
“Our Labour Force Market Survey indicates that 80 percent of people are in the informal sector and less than 20 percent are in the formal sector and that is why we emphasis the need to prioritise the growth of the informal sector if we are going to grove this economy,” he said.
Mr Shindano charged that all successful and developed countries grew their economies by focusing on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and investment in skills development.
He said that there was need to revise the curriculum in higher learning institutions to carter for different skills so that graduates did not have to start looking for jobs in the formal sector because they would be able to identify what they could offer.
“It is very important that you get citizens that are able to become job creators through the various skills that they would have acquired in different fields. That way, we will be able to get youths that have become productive in different entities of society
“We need a re-orientation of the skills that we have in the country because if you look at our curriculum, most of the courses that are offered are professional courses and I think there is need to revise that,” he said.
