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24 HRS WORK RULE TO REDUCE YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN TANZANIA.
BY
SELEMAN PHARLES MABALA
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.
Youth unemployment in Tanzania is a critical problem. Recent policy of free education up to
ordinally secondary level and high number of new universities has resulted to large number of skilled
young individuals without jobs. Each year more than 700,000 new young job seekers enter job market
(DANIDA 2018 The unemployment rate is officially 11.5 however it is believed to be beyond that
number since it is masked by the tendency or culture of documenting the unemployed as
’entrepreneur’ in government documents. Currently Tanzania has discovered various natural
resources such as gas, diamonds, and gold, hence there are more mining sites but still high
unemployment, and also, lots of new factories industries and infrastructures constructions have been
opened and yet unemployment is high. Consequently, the legal restrictions of night operations in
some sectors makes youth unemployment prevail. Youth unemployment results to poor public health,
low economic growth, high crime rate as well poor participation in social political activities in the
society.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Policy brief has two recommendations;
❖ First, 24/7 Work rule should be legalized. The government of Tanzania should legalize night
operations such as Construction sites, Mining sites, transport, factories and restaurants so that
more young individuals can get employment. Many young people are willing to work on shifts
hence the government should legalize only through keeping safety rules.
❖ Second, there must be a formal employment information center to avoid information mismatch.
Most youth get job from informal networks and sources which also results to corruption.
Therefore, the government through the ministry of work should establish one formal center for
jobs advertisements where both private and public sectors can advertise jobs.
Introduction
Currently there are more than 64 million youth who are unemployed worldwide, most of them being
from developing countries. In Africa youth unemployment keeps increasing with North Africa being
the leader where the youth unemployment rate is expected to exceed 30 per cent by 2019, which
means that young people will continue to be 3.5 times more likely than adults to be unemployed (ILO,
2019)
The current Population in Tanzania is 60 Million people. The population of Tanzania keeps increasing
at the rate of 3.11 per cent every year (WorldMeter 2019). The increase in youth population has
opportunities as well as challenges. One of the challenges is youth unemployment (Agwanda &
Aman, 2014). Youth unemployment in Tanzania has been a long-time problem (Haji 2015, DTCIDC,
2016, Kiaga 2016). The larger problem of chronic underemployment can be traced back since
independence 1961. The current youth unemployment rate is 11.5 percent. The problem has been
ignored that it is the fault of the youth who are labeled as lazy and less creative. But in reality, youth
are willing to work just they don’t have smooth environment to make them work or innovate. The
only solution is from the government’s good policies. Up to early 2000s there was a big mismatch
problem between jobs (employers) and labor(employees), especially in Tanzania mainland (Haji
2015, DTCIDC, 2016)., however since primary education and Ordinary secondary level education
became free plus the opening of many universities the problem has changed. Most youth have skills
but there is nowhere to use that particular skills. In approximation youth from University have 5.5
years of staying jobless while searching for job after university or vocation training such as VETA.(
Haji 2015).
Current effects of youth Unemployment
Evidence has shown unemployment results to high crime rate (Edmark, 2005), that is why Tanzania
has high crime rate especially Dar es Salaam (Imori & Pallangyo, 2017). Most of the people in
Tanzania prisons are youth. Therefore, having a high number our youth in prison while they are being
unproductive at the same time using public taxes through meals and clothing is not good for national
development.
Poor Public health and low Economic Growth. Unemployment also is characterized by poor health
(Bambra & Eikemo, 2009). When people are employed the hospital burden will decreased, as a result
the GDP will increase more than how it is now. According to IMF (2019) Tanzania GDP is increasing
only by 4-5per cent (however the government has rejected this reported-that it is false). As the
national unemployment decreases income of the national will increase since demand for goods and
services will automatically grow, poverty rate will decrease too.
Suggested Actions
There are various emerging sectors in Tanzania such as, factories, construction, transport and storage,
hotels and restaurants. The earnings in these sectors are about six times higher than in traditional
sectors (Haji 2015). The restrictions of night operations hinder fast production in the country.
Therefore, this policy brief proposes two options;
First is legal obligation for 24 hrs. work in the sectors which favors 24 hrs. work such as construction,
factories and transportation. The youth are willing to work hence the government should allow
operations even during the night. The policy which bans transportation such as buses during night
reduces productivity in a country. Also, construction activities can be done in night through lighting,
a good example is from the Economic Revolution brought in China by Comrade Deng Xiaoping after
his return from France that made the Chinese to work day and night.
Second there is an urgent need for a formal employment information center to avoid information
mismatch. Most youth get job from informal networks and sources which also results to corruption.
The government through the ministry of work should establish one formal center (website) for jobs
advertisements where both private and public sectors can advertise jobs. The currently agency isn’t
enough since it is only for the jobs offered by government institutions.
Suggested Income Sources, Trade-offs and Time and Space.
Since the youth are going to be productive then the same work will generate income which will
increase production and hence the money for their payment will be available.
Government revenue (tax) will increase from the youth being in the official payroll. When working
all times is legalized then even those working illegally in the night will no longer need to hide.
It is expected that the hospital expenditure will decrease since less youth will be sick and idle, thus
the excess hospital money can be used to facilitate the night working conditions.
Of course, the trade-off is connected to security issues. However, the security issue can be resolved
by strengthening and modernizing working procedures of Police Force as well as enabling
Occupational Health and Safety Agency (OSHA) to enact rules which will ensure safety in work
areas during the night hours. To start the policy can be implemented in the cities of Dar es Salaam
and Mbeya city in the duration of six months for practical evaluation before being applied all over
Tanzania both Tanzania Mainland and Tanzania Islands.
REFERENCES
Haji, M (2015) Youth employment in Tanzania: Taking stock of the evidence and knowledge gaps
1-25, International Development Research Centre, Canada
Danish Trade Council for International Development and Cooperation 2016 (DTCIDC) Labour
Market Profile: Tanzania and Zanzibar. Copenhagen, Denmark. 1-32
Kiaga A. (2016) United Nations Joint Programme on Youth Employment, Tanzania: Developing an
integrated strategy towards addressing the youth employment challenge in Tanzania accessed from
https://www.ilo.org/addisababa/countries-covered/tanzania/WCMS_531382/lang--en/index.htm
International Labour Organization IMF (2019) World Employment Social Outlook . Geneva, 1-121
Bambra C, and Eikemo TA (2009) Welfare state regimes, unemployment and health: a comparative
study of the relationship between unemployment and self-reported health in 23 European countries,
Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health,63: 92-98.
Jahoda, Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Hans Zeisel (2002 [1933]): Marienthal: the sociography of an
unemployed community, London: Transaction
Edmark, K. (2005) ‘Unemployment and Crime: Is There a Connection?, The Scandinavian Journal
of Economics 107 (2): 353-373.
Agwanda, A and Aman, H (2014) Population Growth, Structure and Momentum in Tanzania THDR
2014: Background Paper No. 7 ESRF Discussion Paper 61. Economic and Social Research
Foundation (ESRF)
Imori, J. M and Pallangyo W.A (2017) Assessment of Crime and Crime Level in Kinondoni Police
Regional Stations, Dar Es Salaam Tanzania. International Journal of Political Science (IJPS) 3( 2),
56-64
Worldmeter (2019) The Current Population and Growth Rate in Tanzania Accessed on 26 April 2019
at 2038hrs from https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/tanzania-population/
Denmark-Tanzania partnership Policy 2014-2018 - Current and future challenges and opportunities
in Tanzania retrieved from http://um.dk/en/danida-en/strategies%20and%20priorities/country-
policies/tanzania/current-and-future-challenges-and-opportunities-in-tanzania/ on 26 April 2019 at
2202hrs.
Tanzania and IMF report 2019 accessed on 26 April 2019 from
https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKCN1S00M4-OZATP at 2134hrs.
