Zambia reports 11-pct youth unemployment rate: report

Zambia's youth unemployment stands at 10.5 percent, which is still high and a source of concern, a new report released on Thursday has said.

The 2014 labor force survey conducted by the country's statistics agency, the Central Statistical Office (CSO), showed that youth unemployment is at 10.5 percent with overall unemployment rate at 7.4 percent in the southern African country.

The survey has further shown that Zambia's total employed population was estimated at 5.86 million of which 16.1 percent were in the formal sector and 83.9 percent in the informal sector.

Minister of Labor and Social Services Fackson Shamenda, who launched the report, said youth unemployment has remained relatively high and that the government has put in place measures to change the situation.

The formulation and revision of the National Youth Policy and Plan of Action Program, Industrialization, Job Creation Strategy and the National Development Plans were some of the measures undertaken by the government to boost job creation for the young people, he added.

John Kalumbi, the director of the statistics agency said the survey report will help identify the vulnerable groups requiring support.

According to him, understanding of labor trends was also critical to the design of effective policies for job creation. Endit