The Urban jobless in East Africa; Scandinavian Institute of African Studies , Uppsala, 1984 (112p)

Abstract

THE problem of urban joblessness is an old and thorny issue in the
socio-economic development strategy of most Third World countries,
:ranzania being a very typical example. Attempts to solve this problem started
III the late sixties. The solution was based on the simplistic assumption that if
the Jobless wer~ repatriated to the rural areas they would stay put, and the
problem would have been solved.
However, the reality has proved otherwise; not only have the repatrees
returned to their "jobless corners" in the towns, but other jobless peopk have
been streaming into the towns in ever-increasing numbers. What had started as
a trickle inthe colonial days, has turned into an alarming flood after Uhuru.
The conspicuous failure of the government in Tanzania to find a lasting .
solution to this problem of urban unemployment can partly be attributed to
the inadequate information on the basic causes, and the interrelated issues
linked with urban unemployment. It has become evident to many concerned
parties that urban unemployment is just the tip' of an otherwise huge
socio-economic problem. It. does no good to attempt to solve the urban
unemployment problem inisolation, while doing very little to uproot the source
and major cause of urban joblessness .