An Afrobarometer data from 36 African countries surveyed between 2021 to 2022 shows Malawi is at 14 percent on positive rating of government performance on job creation.
The findings come against recent background from the Economic Planning and Development in the Ministry of Finance that about 91 percent of Malawi’s population is not working and is being supported by the nine percent that is in the labour force, the Ministry of Finance has said.
The Afrobarometer released data on August 16, International Youth Day revealed that young Africans are forging ahead of their predecessors, with 66 percent attaining secondary school education, but there still grappling with unemployment.
“Only two in 10 Africans say their government is doing well in resolving the youth’s most important problem – unemployment. Majority approval of government’s effort at job creation is only recorded in Zambia at 72 percent and Seychelles at 60 percent. Very low approval ratings are recorded in Gabon 3 percent, Lesotho 5 percent and Eswatini 6 percent,” reads part of the statement on the findings.
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Shannon van Wyk-Khosa, Afrobarometer Digital Portfolio Manager, disclosed that while unemployment tops the list of the most important problems that young Africans want their government to address, governments are consistently given low ratings for their efforts in creating jobs.
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In his comment George Khaki Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (Ecam) Executive Director said the level of unemployment in the country is promoting crimes arguing the youth constitute a big percentage of working population.
“This is a ticking time bomb which as a country we must deal with. We have a lot of youths that are going through the education system but at the moment they are unemployed which means we are leaving the youth out of the economic activities of the country which threatens the attainment of Malawi 2063 Vision which is looking at creating inclusive wealth for all in the country.
“Again the other consequences are the social challenges that the country is facing, you see for example in the city of Blantyre there a lot of crimes being committed by the youth this is probably because they are failing to get normal income from normal sources and therefore they get income from sources which are not legal,” he said.
However, Khaki attributed the level of unemployment in the country to various economic challenges the country is going through and natural disasters that have affected the country the past two years.
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“We have to look at the causes of the unemployment recently we have had economic, pandemic and weather shocks which have had a grave implication on creation of employment as a country we are not producing as many jobs as we would want to do. Taking into consideration that the youth constitute over 50 percent of the working population in the country and they are therefore heavily affected by unemployment,” he said.
Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu said the unemployment in the country is among others due to low industrialisation for decades, lack of proper business plans and knowledge and high percentage of loan defaulters.
“Malawi’s unemployment rate for 2022 was 5.61 percent, a 0.04 percent decline from 2021.While the rate for 2021 was 5.66 percent, a 0.02 percent decline from 2020.
Although the rate is minimal, this indicates that efforts are being made.
‘Our hope is that the non-interupted power supply, coming in of the Mining Regulatory Authority, removal of visa fees from major tourists countries, the mega farms and the digitalization efforts we are making will begin transforming this country into an industrialized one,” he said.
