While there has recently been much debate about growth, poverty and youth unemployment in
Zambia, one aspect that has received insufficient attention is the number of people who are
technically in employment, but poor and vulnerable. This paper explores the characteristics of
an oft-neglected category of vulnerable workers – unpaid family workers, here called
“contributing family workers” (CFWs) – in relation to the persistent problem of poverty in
Zambia.
Data from the 2010 Living Conditions Monitoring Survey shows that CFWs are associated with
both youth and poverty. While 26% of the economically active population is aged 15–24,
among CFWs this rises to 47.4%. And while 15.5% of the economically active population are
young and poor, 38.7% of CFWs are young and poor. In fact, more young poor people are CFWs
than are unemployed: while 16.1% of the economically active population aged 15–24 are
classified as unemployed, 42.2% are classified as CFWs.
Further analysis of the data shows that high proportions of CFWs are female, have low
educational attainment, live in rural areas, and work in agriculture.
Based on the findings, the paper identifies six implications for policy, discussed in Section 4:
 Job creation strategies should have a gender focus
 Education and skills development is key
 There is need for productive agricultural employment opportunities
 There is a need for an institutionalised social security system to protect the vulnerable
 The key performance indicators for the Sixth National Development Plan should be
adjusted to track vulnerable employment
 The Central Statistical Office needs more consistent definitions in order to measure
vulnerable employment.