CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY RESULTANT LABOUR AND INCOME LEVELS
7.2.1 The changing labour environment in the Construction industry
The Government's human resources development policy for the rest of the construction industry (housing included) is guided by the following aims and objectives contained in the MPC&NH's 1990 human resources policy on the Construction Industry:
• Improve national educational and training systems for the construction industry.
• utilise local technical experts and contractors, as a first option, on all Govemment construction projects.
• create mechanisms for facilitating the participation of national professionals on major construction projects undertaken for Govemment by foreign contractors.
• develop a cadre of national professionals who will be competent to carry out relevant research and development work for the construction industry.
• facilitate capacity building of national professional researchers by creating or supporting the infrastructure used for research and development.
• retain technically qualified personnel in the Ministry responsible for construction by providing improved conditions of service.
• strengthen local government administration for the purposes of enforcing and monitoring construction standards and maintenance of civic infrastructure under each respective area of jurisdiction.
The human resources development policy document on the construction industry goes on to propose that all relevant curricula pertaining to the education and training of all levels of personnel in the construction industry should be reviewed in the light of modern day requirements of the Zimbabwean construction industry. It further emphasises the training of small and medium sized contractors, consultants and manufacturers and reaffirms Government support for construction research and institutions in the country.
The document does not however, specify which institution/s should co-ordinate these proposed changes, or who should provide the financing. Given recent Government intentions to involve the private sector in staff training to reduce its contribution, it is important to work out such details. There is also a need for dividing the programme into short, medium and long -term targets for easy monitoring and evaluation. Unless these details are resolved sooner or later, the whole programme risks failure before it is implemented.
Unfortunately, the above postUlated benefits have yet to be seen in the construction industry vis-a-vis housing and the rest of the economy. Employment levels and average national incomes continue to fall despite the five- year labor application strategy in the Economic Structural Adjustment and Shelter Development Strategy. It is important to take note, however, that the downward trend both in employment levels and incomes started with govemment 's socialist governance policies back in the late 1980s.
After experiencing an employment boom immediately after independence when overall employment figures rose in formal employment, Zimbabwe began to register a fall in employment levels and incomes. Admittedly, the fall in real employment figures started long before implementation of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme and the Shelter Development Strategy. It should however, be noted that these programmes exacerbated the process. Measures in ESAP and shelter enablement to reduce the public service, privatise the large-scale public companies and liqUidate ailing public companies and institutions have only added to the growing unemployment figures.
Govemment's own figures for workers declared redundant have been very modest.
Arguably, the Zimbabwean economy has witnessed an overall rise in the informal labour market. Since no comprehensive data exists on the informal market, it is difficult to argue with certainty that it is indeed absorbing the unemployed and those retrenched from the formal market. The research study, however, will show that amidst the reduction in formal construction unskilled labour of 44% between 1991 and 1996 the informal sector labour force witnessed an increase of 80% during the same period '(see table 7.2).
Clearly, the continuous decline in formal construction unskilled labour in the country in t~e past ~O.years is a manifestation of reduced investment in the industry. Going by the high multiplier effects and number of jobs that are created for every $10,000 spent on construction, we can conclude that the Zimbabwean economy has missed an
opportunity of creating mass employment through increased investments in the construction industry vis-a-vis shelter.
Evidently, the construction industry has had its share of the radical labour reforms programme under the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme, as revealed by Govemment statistics and our field data. For instance the Zimbabwean construction industry's (according to the latest Central Statistic Office (CSO) publication National Accounts 1985-1997) contribution to the GDP averaged about 3% in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but fell in 1996 and 1997 to 2,6% of GDP. During the ESAP period, employment grew faster in the construction industry than in any industry in the economy.
The construction industry's share increased to an average of 6,7%, but then fell to around 6% in 1996 and 1997 (Zimconsult, 1999).
In absolute terms, construction employment in the Central Statistics Office (CSO) national accounts publication averaged 60 000 in the late 1980s and 84 000 during ESAP. According to the CSO's Census of Industrial Production 1995/96 Report, however, construction employment averaged 39 000 in the late 1980s and 52 000 during ESAP. A third source of employment data is the number of active contributors to the Construction Industry Pension Fund. For 1996 and 1997, the CSO national accounts publication has construction employment at 77500 and 75700, while the Construction Industry Pension Fund had average numbers of contributing members during those years of 32 200 and 33 100 respectively as illustrated in Table 7.1.
Table. 7.1 Average Formal employment and construction labour force
1980s 1991-1995 1996 1997
ESAP
CSO national Accounts 60,000 84,000 77,500 75, 700
CSO Census of Industrial Prod. 39,000 52,000 -
-
Construction Indus. Pension Fund
-
- 32,200 33, 100Source: Ztmconsult, 1999, p20
In all fairness, while the formal construction unskilled and semi-skilled labour market has been declining, the informal labour market has increasingly taken over some of the roles and activities of the declining formal construction market. On the other hand, small scale and informal manufacturing firms were on average doubling their small work force. For example, Musonga building blocks, in Sakubva, Mutare increased its work force from 3 to 6 workers, and similarly Mbare Harare welding at Siyaso main market also increased its work force from only one worker to 3 workers during the same period. The increase was also encountered in other countless examples in the small scale and informal construction sectors. The Zimbabwean Government has been encouraging the growth of the informal construction market, but its failure to devise a mechanism for collecting personal and company taxes from this growing sector has resulted in the failure to realise postulated gains in Government revenue. This has also meant that the tax burden for workers and companies that have remained in the formal sector continues to grow while those in the informal sector continue evading govemment taxes. The solution
sector gave the sector credibility and awarded government control of this sector. The informal sector was finally transformed into a taxable formal industry.
Ideally this transformation in the labour structure does not in itself present any serious problems, as long as the informal sector is able to produce the same goods and services as the formal sector and the national economy grows. Otherwise, the failure of the informal sector to adequately service the shelter provision industry as the formal sector shrinks would lead to increased construction imports or material shortages in the country. Government's efforts are now more directed at encouraging the private sector initiative in creating more job-opportunities than taxing the informal sector, which is creating jobs. This is particularly true in Zimbabwe, where the high levels of unemployment and its offshoots of crime, poverty, malnutrition and political instability have reached a critical point.