With annual GDP of about $27.7 billion and a workforce of 6.3 million people in 2015, our productivity stood at about $4,400 per worker per year. In Kwacha terms we are looking at K44,000 per annum or K3,666 per month. That is at the rate of K10 per US Dollar. If we took away 60% to cover expenses and return on capital, we remain with K1,222 as payable to each of the 6 million workforce every month. Now imagine a salary of K1,222 per month and you have to pay rent, pay for school fees, fuel, clothes and food for your 5 member family that reside in Kabulonga Suburbs of Lusaka. This explains why the majority of our citizens are so poor. As a country, we have not been generating enough value or wealth therefore we don’t have enough to go around. Our productivity levels are pathetically low compared to affluent nations. The following table gives you an idea of how Zambia compares with top 10 nations in terms of productivity.
1. Luxembourg $103,187 2. Switzerland $82,178 3. Qatar $78,829 4. Norway $76,266 5. United States $55,904 6. Singapore $53,224 7.Australia $51,642 8.Denmark $51,424 9.Iceland $51,068 10.San Marino $49,130 11. Zambia $4,400 At our current productivity levels, it does not matter which political party is in power, our citizens would continue in poverty. In simple terms, when you have 10 apples to share amongst 100 people, it doesn’t matter who is doing the sharing, there is not going to be enough for everybody. That’s the case Zambia finds itself in. At our current GDP, the government of Zambia will never be able to raise enough revenues from taxes for its operations. There is just not enough base to work with. That’s precisely one of the major reasons our government continues borrowing to sustain itself. For Zambia to begin experiencing significant positive shifts in the levels of wealth, our GDP levels have to grow beyond $100 billion per annum. In other words, as long as our GDP levels remain below $100 billion, poverty will remain rife in our country. If there is any Zambian out there claiming they can end poverty or make the lives of the majority of Zambians better without addressing our productivity and GDP levels significantly, that person must be jailed for perjury. As a nation, we need to produce enough wealth for there to be enough wealth for our citizens to enjoy. The low productivity level in Zambia are an interesting scenario because the truth is, man is actually naturally designed to out-produce his needs. What I mean is, given the very basic tools and inputs, a man working from the first day of the month to the last day of the month will eventually produce value that is far beyond what he needs as an individual for a comfortable life. For example, if you gave a healthy man land, a hoe, sufficient seed, fertilizer, pesticides and means of irrigation and he engaged in agricultural activities 6 hours a day for 1 year, the value of the resultant agricultural production will be way beyond what he requires as an individual for a comfortable life. He will therefore be able to support other people. If you went on and availed him a tractor, ploughs, harvester, automated irrigation system and other necessary mechanization, his production will literally make him an affluent man together with his family. This goes to prove the point that conscious planning and organization is at the heart of high productivity. In the average Zambian agricultural operation, we do things without regard to efficiency and level of productivity resulting in very low productivity thereby entrenching poverty in our nation. For Zambia to make significant strides we need to find a way to engage as many Zambians as possible to be part of economic activities but in addition, these people must be engaged in a way that results in significant productivity levels. When I closely look at the employment statistics in our country, I have come to a firm realization that our main problem is not unemployment. Ours is a problem of low productivity or what is commonly known as ; under-employment. According to official government statistics, our unemployment levels are only about 7.3 % or 600,000 unemployed Zambians out of a possible 6,3 million. It means we still have about 5.8 million Zambians engaged in some economic activity of one form or the other. If you follow ILO’s standard of employment that’s not that bad. According to ILO standards, employed people include all persons who performed some work (including work for at least one hour) for pay, profit, or family gain. From the available statistics as summarized in table 3, the majority of our workforce is in the agriculture sector. The problem is these people are generating insufficient wealth. It doesn’t help to have close to 3million Zambians engaged in agriculture but only contributing $4.4 billion dollars at a productivity rate of $1,477 per year per agro worker. But that’s exactly what has been Zambia’s situation. The majority of our people are engaged in agriculture but at scandalously low productivity levels. If these 3 million Zambians were working at productivity levels of $25,000 per person per annum, they would be contributing $75 billion towards our national GDP every year. So whatever we are going to do to create more wealth in our nation has to be something that will move productivity levels in our agriculture sector from the current $1,477 to $25,000 per worker. The good news is there are ways to achieve this and that’s what this book is about. It is very important to come to terms with the fact that there is no nation that has been able to achieve prosperity with low productivity. Unless you choose to be perpetual beggars always looking for alms on the international financial market, you need to generate the wealth for you to enjoy it. This is what we are going to do in Zambia and the next 20 years are going to be significant in this regard. It is also important to know that high productivity levels is something you plan for and is no accident. In economies where people are serious, they literally carry-out work studies to ensure each work is as productive as possible. For our case, we will commence by making sure that each of our key jobs in our investment vehicles is designed to give us adequate productivity.
1 Comment
John Craig
9/16/2016 07:54:38 am
Interesting stuff
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Mauden ShulaMauden Shula is Co-founder and the CEO for Jobs4Zambia (Jofozam Ltd). He is author of several books including : "Why I want to Employ one million People" and "Its Now Time For Zambia To Prosper". The two books contain the strategic agenda for Jobs4Zambia. ArchivesAdvocacy
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