FORMER Speaker of the National Assembly, Anne Makinda, has shared her perception on youth employment in relation to the newly unveiled 2022 Population and Housing Census results.
Speaking in her capacity as National Census Commissioner, Ms Makinda, said that there is a big chance for economic transformation, should the youth, among other things, change their mindset on the meaning of employment.
She said according to the 2022 National Population and Housing Census results, 53.7 per cent of Tanzania’s population is the workforce.
President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan announced the census results last year which shows Tanzania’s population grew by 16 million in 10 years hitting 61.7 million-a 27.23 per cent increase from 2012.
She said there was no reason why the youth should complain of unemployment as there are a number of avenues they can explore to earn a living.
Speaking to the ‘Daily News’ during one-and-half hour interview, Ms Makinda called upon authorities at all levels to plan and educate the youth on employment opportunities instead of waiting for job vacancies to be announced by the government.
The soft spoken Census Commissioner, further said young people should have a different perspective on how they can turn their knowledge and skills attained in schools, colleges and universities into self-employment to improve their welfare and national economic development.
“Education is key to life but not a source of employment, knowledge is power, President Samia has opened up the country with a wide range of employment opportunities, be innovative and focused on how to use them,” she pointed out.
She said according the census results, should the 53.7 per cent of the workforce use effectively the social media opportunities as a source of income and carry out multiple tasks, it would help boosting the national economic development, hence, make unemployment history in the country.
Ms Makinda added: “Instead of using the social media platforms as tool for following up on people’s lives and love affairs, engage in issues that would make you earn money to improve standards of your life. Use the internet bundle for making businesses.
“Surprisingly, most of the job seekers rove around with certificates looking for employment while they have it at their fingertips, just need a smartphone and start conducting business, should they decide to be innovative.”
President Samia announced the results detailing that the number of people in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar reached 59.8million and 1.9 million respectively.
The number of women represents 51 per cent of the total population.
According to a new report, Dar es Salaam continues to be the highly populated city with 5.3 million people followed by Mwanza with 3.69 million.
The Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics conducted the Population and Housing Census (PHC) from August 23 to September 4, 2022. This is the sixth census since independence in 1964.
President Dr Samia recently launched the 10-year National Directive for the Implementation of the 2022 Census that will span from November to October 2032.
Ms Makinda called for proper use of data for development, policy making and planning for economic development and priorities from the grassroots to the national level.
The data has contributed to increased investment projects as investors have maximised the use of data to get details of their choices, infrastructure, workforce and populations before coming into the country.
This, she said, is in line with President Samia’s mission to open up the country’s economic development opportunities.
“Such a population might not be a big deal for a huge country like ours but it’s a burden when it comes to allocating resources and delivering social services. We need development strategies to serve these people and the proper use of data is a solution” she said.
During the presentation of the census results President Samia had said: “We need to start preparing development projects for these people and make necessary reforms in our policies to match with the current numbers,” further pointing out that the country’s population was projected to reach 151.2 million in 2050.
Unlike in the previous censuses which ought to only come up with data on the country’s population, this time it had two additional questionnaires which sought to have a total number of houses in the country and as well have postcodes in both rural and urban areas.
These are noted as important for the country to come up with proper policies and plans aimed at helping the country to realise its ambitious development agenda.
Elaborating, Ms Makinda said: “At some point, the Father of the Nation Mwalimu Julius Nyerere said and I quote: “If we really want to plan for development we need to have clear data on the number of people.
“It is time for the planning experts to effectively use the census data for planning properly.
Accurate census data is valuable and essential for economic development, healthcare, education, business planning, transportation and decision making.”
Notably, the census plays an essential role in giving detailed information on the population density. The data collected also plays a prominent role in providing the demographic surveillance necessary for monitoring and evaluation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which place the highest priority on leaving no one behind.
The census provides a suitable database for comparison and projections of demographic data as well as social and economic characteristics of society.
It is equally, a basis for the government to give priority to the planning and undertaking of the next population and housing census. Apart from knowing the actual number of people in the country at a particular time, it gives out an accurate picture of the society.
This includes how many dependents and how many taxable adults are there and this enables government forecasting for economic needs.
