The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection JCTR has called for the formulation of a policy direction when reviewing the minimum wage, to deal with the resulting high cost of production.
JCTR says the policy should take into account both employees welfare and the cost of production, to avoid plunging the economy into price wage spiral inflation.
JCTR believes this will enable the government to tackle challenges in the labour market such as low wages.
The Centre says wage increases if not accompanied by increase in production will only result in the increase in the price of commodities.
JCTR has also observed that many Zambians can not afford their basic needs because of low wages.
This is according to a statement released to ZNBC in Lusaka today.
Meanwhile, the cost of living for a family of six for the month of September increased to K 820,300 from Augusts K 813, 850.
JCTR has attributed the rise in the cost of living to the increase in the price of dry fish which is now costing K57 000.
Other minor increases were recorded in commodities such as eggs, beans, vegetables and tomatoes.
[ZNBC]
The policy is welcome. Cost of living! Educate me learned people: is it only about food and not shelter when someone says “cost of living”?
It is actually a “misquote” by the journalist. JCTR calls this “monthly food basket”, it is not a monthly cost of living report.
Awe, pa zed pashupa. tukalyapo iloba elo kaili milisi ilokewa namvula.
Ha ha ha…nice.
Correct analysis by JCTR. To borrow one blogger’s words, the horse has to come before the cart. Low production costs will naturally lead to an increase in production and it is only when companies have a surplus that the employers can afford to raise wages and cut the prices of their commodities.
However, let us also consider that companies differ in their profitabilities and abilities to manage costs. It would make more sense to treat each industrial sector individually and pay workers according to the economic situation in their respective fields.
LT can you hire writers who have actually been to school.What is employee warfare? That heading ,i believe, should read employee welfare.Geez,how does the editor even approve of such poor journalism?
If not handled properly, this wage-rise demand could create a situation where the price of bread and the like go up threefold and the workers still buy the number of itemz az they did before the increment.
Good one JCTR, to add on wage rates must go hand in hand with productivity. Theres no point in rewarding the labour force if production stays constant. And also the work culture in general must change. Lets get rid of laziness!!!!!!
At the rate the workers are demanding for massive wage increases, many of us operating hair saloons are bound to close as we’ll not meet the wage bills.
#6 MODDY – the way it works in developed economies is that workers who are at lower levels, including like those working hair saloons, you work out their wages on hourly basis. Let’s say the minimum wage is K1,200,000 per month. If your saloon is open six days a week from 8:00hrs to 18:00hrs every day, that means you are open 9 hours per day, excluding 1 hour lunch. Your month will have about 22 working days (if you operate 6 days a week). Divide K1.2million by 22 days, it gives you roughly K55,000 per day. Divide that K55,000 by 9 hours a day, it gives you roughly K6,000. So it means you pay your worker K6,000 per hour. What you now do is observe your daily customer numbers and only bring your worker for those parts of each day when you need extra help and pay her K6,000 per hour!
good analysis ba Gokigo Milazhe…..I like.
Yes JCTR you are right and I strongly believe that its not just a matter of more money in one’s pocket without the backing production. It cant happen. I am also sure that most of these companies will just close and the workers will be to blame and not the government. Basically you dont just talk of minimum wage as in what. Zambian politics stink poverty at its waste. I end here!
#6 MODDY – Another hair saloon I know the way it operates is that you make an understanding with your workers that they get paid a percentage of what you make each day, so it becomes somekind of a partnership contract but without them being shareholders. That way you avoid the minimum wage issue and believe me they even get more motivated to work harder for you. Just make sure that you pay them fairly according to the agreement. There are many workers in the industry who get paid that way, for example in some companies as a marketing employee you only get paid on commission: the more you sell the more the money. The hair saloon I’m talking about makes a lot of money and workers look after the equipment and hair products very well because they want to maximise as well!
Jctr is right….I just cant imagine how those indians in Kamwala will manage to raise their workers salaries without a rise in consumer demand…ifi fintu tafisa ngameno yamukanya.The field is not yet leveled for a proper implementation of the minimum wage.
It is a vicious circle, isn’t it? If people don’t buy goods and services then companies don’t make money and then they fail to pay the minimum wage and so they increase the prices of goods and services and the cycle starts again – before you know it, inflation will be climbing. We need a minimum wage for people to start buying things and for companies to make money from people as they buy goods and services – that is how an economy grows. HOWEVER, there has to be a balance. To achieve that balance there must be an objective economic study, not just 6 people sitting around a negotiating table speculating on what would happen. You can’t politicise everything. Research and then make an informed decision. Let’s wait and see.
Zambia seems to be waking from a slumber, what ever happened with MMD what was wrong , my people surely the nation went to the dogs ,, it is like every thing in zambia collapsed and they now need repair , why shouldnt some one be answerable if he is still alive
WARSAW: A Zambian-born academic has become Poland’s second black member of parliament, a new milestone in his adopted country which has a tiny minority community, election results showed on Wednesday.
Killion Munyama won a seat in Sunday’s polls, held just two days after he turned 50.
Munyama stood in a rural constituency near the northwestern city of Pila for the governing centrist Civic Platform, which has become the first incumbent party to won a second term since the 1989 demise of Poland’s communist regime.
Born in 1961 in Makala, outside the Zambian capital Lusaka, Munyama came to communist-era Poland in 1982 to take an economics degree.
As Poland shifted rapidly to the free market, he stayed on to do a PhD.
K820,300 per month is not enough when you consider necessities beyond nsima and kapenta or cabbage.
Where is clothing, healthcare, travel, entertainment, or saving?
“cost of living” is a misquote by the reporter. JCTR calls this a “monthly food basket” estimates. the survey is done around the slams of lusaka. It covers food and energy (charcoal, not electricity).Â
And castle to spice up those fridays.
@15 Gundix I TOTALLY agree with ZMK 820,000.00 a family of 6..Ninshi kulalyafye chinsense nakatapa tefyo…That is way below JCTR you need to analyse your calculations.
in addtion to the considerations over cost of living and cost of production minimum wage should be sector based. infact a minimum wage should determined in each proffession or trade based to a large extent on productivity if you have the means to measure it. some sectors produce so much but due to poor policy workers do not get much in return. profits- declared or not- are all externalised
Zambians need a lesson from USÂ
Persistent demand for higher salaries
Will drive all jobs out,if u think employer
Is making a lot of money ,become a CEO
YourselfÂ
” JCTR says the policy should take into account both employees welfare and the cost of production, to avoid plunging the economy into price wage spiral inflation. ”
There is no such thing. The idea that it would be bad if people have more money to spend, when most people earn $1,-/day is absurd. However, it conforms perfectly with the neoliberal mindset that believes that money in the hands of poor people is bad, but money in the hands of rich people is good. You could say that this is their entire philosophy in a nutshell.
In fact, higher prices of goods caused by people having more money to spend is about the best inflation you can get, because it stimulates greater production of goods (or importation of goods, if there are no protections for local producers, like tariffs).
Masiye,
” Zambians need a lesson from US Persistent demand for higher salaries Will drive all jobs out, ”
What has lost to massive job losses in the USA was not higher wages for ordinary people. It was free trade agreements that allowed US corporations to set up shop in low wage countries.
That is not a result from demand for higher wages from US workers, but the neoliberal’s destruction of the national economy, and the reshaping of the global economy.
That era is OVER.
Govt should review the prices of commodities then reduce accordingly. Tax in Zambia is very high and seeing that we are a consumer country we do not have enough factories to produce food and other finished commodities we rely on external producers to give us these items, hence the price is high. We need food factories and manufacturing companies in Zambia. Everyone is selling to everyone – tomato and kapenta business and everyone joins in. We have loads of fish in Zambia we could have a fish factor in Mpulungu which would create employment and supply food, same for Mporokoso, Livingstone and Monze, Luapula province, Mansa area there and Kasaba Bay Fish Factories all round. Then we could procude cassave and make meali flour for cereal and children’s food, and snacks; corn meal cereal
The zeros in the kwacha are killing the economy. The currency no longer makes sense guys. Cut off the zeros