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WOMENS UNIVERSITY IN AFRICA

Addressing gender disparity and fostering equity in University Education FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT AND ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT STUDIES & I.T
BSc. INFORMATION SYSTEMS

BUSSINESS ECONOMICS
DEPARTMENT:- Information Systems INTAKE:10

PART A: STUDENT'S DETAILS Mataire Simbarashe W120223

Part B: Question and number: Question 1 and 2 PART C:MARKER'S COMMENTS

......... OVERALL MARK............................................DATE MARKER'S NAME SIGNATURE

1.

Unemployment this is the number of people that are looking for work who are currently jobless. It is an economic condition where people seeking for jobs remain unemployed. This essay seeks to look at the causes, effects and types of unemployment in Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe there are many factors that lead to causes of unemployment for Zimbabweans. The structure change causes unemployment. Demand for labour falls as a result of a significant change in the structure of an industry. This may result from technological change. Some years back most jobs in Zimbabwe where done manually and the introduction of machines into the industries lead to lose of jobs for some of the workers. For instance the packaging of soaps at Olivine company. This was done manually but with the advent of technology packaging is now done with machines and the people who used to do the packaging lost their jobs. The introduction of computers also reduced the number of employees needed in an organisation. A job that was done by ten people is now done by four or less people. So organisations are now employing few workers than they used to employee before the introduction of computers.

Lack of investments in the country has also made it difficult for job creation. The existence of high levels of corruption and greedy in Zimbabwe determine investments. The business environment is no longer trustworthy and there is lack of co-operation in government. So investors are afraid of losing their money after investing in an uncertain environment. So this lead to no job creation in Zimbabwe therefore people will remain unemployed. The other cause of unemployment is that some of the investors are foreigners. So when they come to Zimbabwe to start

their business they come along with their workers or family members to work for them so few Zimbabweans will get employed. For example many Nigerians are coming to Zimbabwe to start their businesses and there are employing few Zimbabweans to work for them.

Looking at mining sector in Zimbabwe most of the mining companies are closing due to uncertainty indigenisation programme that requires all foreign and mining companies to cede 51% of shareholding to indigenisation people. The indigenisation people do not contribute any capital to that effect but they just acquire the 51% ownership from that company therefore these mining companies are facing viabilities challenges hence they close. So these will result in people losing their jobs since most mines and industries are closing due to indigenisation.

The education sector is being heat hard by labour shortage as the educationists are living the country to seek greener pastures due to poor remuneration in Zimbabwe. This has a negative impact on the students. Colleges and universities are now producing half baked graduates into our industries and the service providing entities. This result in poor product and poor services in Zimbabwe. So because of this few students are being taken into industry due to failure of proving their selves in interviews.

There are many effect of unemployment in Zimbabwe. The most common effect is promiscuity leading to prostitution where they end up contracting HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections that can be detrimental to their health. This has destroyed the girl child in Zimbabwe. The other effects are drug abuse, violence and crime. The most group affected with these effects are youths. There are the ones who want quick money so they end up engaging in different bad activities so as to make quick money. Because one does not have a job he or

she thinks that taking drugs is a stress free not knowing that there are destroying their body parts. In a family if a bread winner loses a job, he or she might suffer from heart problems, high blood pressure and headaches because of stress.

Types of unemployment in Zimbabwe are frictional, structural, seasonal and technological unemployment. Frictional unemployment this occurs when a person is out of a job and is searching for another. In Zimbabwe unemployment is caused not because there are not enough jobs to go round, but because of the friction in the labour market, caused perhaps by a lack of knowledge about job opportunities. In Zimbabwe seasonal unemployment occurs in certain industries, for example tourism and farming, where the demand for labour fluctuates in seasonal patterns throughout the year and where staff are often employed on temporary contracts.

2.

To solve unemployment in Zimbabwe lecturers should enhance student skill and knowledge. Lecturers, being the closest people to students, should continuously encourage them to gain work experience and soft skills on campus and off campus. Most of the students seem unaware of the importance of work experience. In order to assist students, a lecturer may use several approaches to enhance their skills and knowledge; for example to stimulate the minds of students with discussions and case studies. This approach may help students integrate their knowledge and skills with real cases. Apart from that, the lecturer may also allow students to interact with outsiders or to organize social activities. This will forced student to go out and exposed them to the outside world.

For unemployment to be solved there must be an increased government spending or a stimulus package resulting in increased demand for production factors, primarily labor, required to create specific goods and services.

In Zimbabwe unemployment is solved by increasing consumer demand through higher government spending, proponents of supply side economics which argues that employment opportunities are created by producers/suppliers. So the emphasis is on limited government and a strong private sector. The other measure that can be taken into considerations to solve unemployment in Zimbabwe is reducing taxes, encouraging producers to make more goods, investors to invest more money, and people to work more since they retain more of their earnings. For unemployment to be reduced there must be a betterment of the employment exchange. Employment exchange is a mere formality in Zimbabwe, so it is important that employment exchange offices should make things happen correctly and quickly with private companies which provide the maximum job opportunities. Government should grant more funds and powers to its employment exchange terminal.

There should be elimination of Child Labor in Zimbabwe. When underage children start making money, they will look for more options to make money. Schools are made for children and vice versa. Elimination of child labor can definitely help people to go for better option.

Improving Pay Scales to Reduce Unemployment by Choice is also another measure that must be taken into consideration to solve unemployment. Many people in Zimbabwe choose to be unemployed to do things they like or to avoid working on low pay scales. So improving pay scales in government and public sectors will give fewer options for people to stay unemployed by choice.

REFERENCES
Fundamentals of business economics for assessments in 2010 and 2011 http://www.ehow.com/how_6560183_solve-unemployment.html#ixzz2QsegO800 Economics 4th edition by Stephen Ison, Stuart Wall (2007) http://economics.about.com/od/typesofunemployment/Types_of_Unemployment.h tm

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