What is Employment?
Employment simply means finding something doing to keep soul and body together. Even it was confirmed by saint Paul that an Idle man is devils workshop. So Employment means engaging our time in something that will bring money. It connotes using our hands in a profitable ventures or manner such as creating value that brings. It means to work and not to be lazy or idle. It means to be fending for oneself. It means to utilize our time and other resources into something that will yield gain, profit and income for us.
Laziness and idleness are not good. They bring insult, embarrassment and shame. They make one to be indolent, join bad association, engage in robbery, drug-trafficking and other illicit affairs and ventures, and above all leads to poverty.
Poverty means lack, dearth, unproductiveness, lowliness, penury, deprivation, to be poor. It makes one to beg for food, clothes and other necessities of life. It makes one to be doing menial jobs that cannot sustain one. It makes one to be old at early stage of ones life.
Importance of Employment in Alleviating Poverty
- Employment makes one free from laziness and state of indolence, it makes one to be occupied.
- Employment fetches one money to cater for the basic necessity in ones life.
- Employment makes one to be responsible. i.e. one will be able pay for the house rent, pay the children school fees, buy clothes for H the family, provides for other necessary needs in the home e.g food, electricity bill etc.
- Employment makes one to maximize and utilize ones resources judiciously.
- Employment makes one to be ones’ own boss. i.e. when one is the entrepreneur or the business owner.
- Employment makes one to be recognized by the government for awards and prizes.
- Employment makes one to be fulfilled and satisfied.
- Employment brings other business opportunities both within and outside the country.
- Employment makes one to be free of unnecessary harassment embarrassment from security agents and other law-enforcement and other law enforcement agents.
- Employment brings one favors, honors and fame especially when one is productive, enterprising, hardworking and a goal getter.
- Employment protects one from penury, begging etc.
- Employment guarantees one assurance of securing bank loans for profitable and reasonable ventures.
- Employment makes other people to trust one and give one greater responsibilities and challenges.
- Employment helps to reduce crime rates and other heinous activities among the youths.
- Employment helps to improve national income earning and promote domestic trade activities.
Employment helps to promote national economic growth and Economic growth and development etc.
FACTORS WHICH PROMOTE GUARANTEED EMPLOYMENT
It is important to know and note that not until when someone gets government job, work in oil and telecommunication companies that he secures a good employment. Graduates waiting for government employment among others may not be guaranteed of getting employed. Hence, the following factors encourage and promote guaranteed employment.
- Free Education/Sponsorship/Scholarship: When government provide free education and the well to do people and big corporate establishments sponsor and give scholarships to indigent and brilliant students in every level of education, it will reduce high rate of illiteracy and many technical and skilled labour would be produced.
- Responsible Governance: People in position of authority and all policy makers should make good use of their offices by spending the hard earned public money and other earning, judiciously. Enough of siphoning of public money and looting of treasury.
- Provision of Good Medical Care: People should have access to good medical care. Every treatment of ailments at the hospital and clinics especially public ones if not totally free should be subsidized to the extent that every common man on the street would be able to afford it.
- Provision of enabling environment and infrastructural facilities: Government at all levels should ensure provision of constant and regular power or electricity, good motor able roads, safe drinking water which will encourage skilled and unskilled labours to establish their own private and personal businesses.
- Provision of security: Government should ensure that the lives and properties of every citizen is secured. Most people could not establish their own businesses as a result of fear of insecurity. Mar people have lost their gainful employment as a result of wanton killing and destruction of properties.
- Employment of Youths: Government and other well to do people should establish skill acquisition and empowerment centers. Our youths should be mandated to attend a skill acquisition training program for them to establish their own businesses when they graduate from these centers.
- Encouraging Business Investment: Banks and other financial institutions should have a program that will make obtaining of loans to establish medium and small scale businesses easier for t young graduates.
- Enforcement of Teaching of Entrepreneurship Subjects in Schools and Classes: Government should ensure that the teaching of the skill/entrepreneurship subjects newly introduced into the school system is enforced and becomes operational.
- The trade/entrepreneurial subjects which have been newly introduced are:
- Auto body repair Electrical work
- Auto mechanical work
- Auto parts merchandising Air-conditioning refrigerator
- Wielding and fabrication engineering craft practice.
- Electrical installation and maintenance work.
- Radio, TV and Electrical work
- Block-laying, brick laying and concrete work Painting and decorating.
- Plumbing and pipe-fitting
- Machine wood work
- Carpentry and joinery Furniture making
- Upholstery
- Catering and craft practice Garment making
SOURCES OF FUNDING FOR SELF-EMPLOYMENT
To establish any trade/business venture that can guarantee employment, there is a need for financial capital. The sources of funding/ways through which one can gather money to establish business include:
- Saving money with daily contributors and collectors.
- Obtaining soft loan from community/merchant banks.
- Joining cooperative and thrift society for the purpose of collecting
- Approaching cooperative and thrift society even as a non. registered member to obtain loan.
- Seeking for financial assistance from wealthy individuals.
- Attending seminars and workshops where issues on raising money for business ventures are being discussed.
- Buying shares in big corporate establishments and investing the dividends
- Engaging in temporary manual labour that can fetch money and investing it for the purpose of self business ownership.
- Reducing unnecessary extravagant , rather, invest idle money or gifts into profitable materials.
- Registering with relevant government agents and non governmental organization (NGO) that offer financial assistance and encourage self-empowerment.
- Reading of motivational literatures.
- Reading the biography of business tycoons on how they were able to make it and learning from their mistakes etc.
SUMMARY
In this theme, we have examined the following topics:
- Importance of employment in alleviating poverty.
- Factors which guarantee employment.
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