Industrialisation and Employment in Rhodesia

Professor Lewis of Manchester University has defined industrialisation as being broadly the application of capital and scientific techniques to economic activity. This process does not in itself at all times provide additional employment opportunities. Indeed at certain stages of industrial development in the quest for greater efficiency through capital investment, better management, more labour consciousness and consequently greater production the effect may be to lower the numbers employed or at best only to maintain them. To illustrate this I would compare certain statistics of the years 1957 and 1965, and I have chosen these two years because in 1957 we were witnessing the first real impact of the economic benefits of the Federation and 1965 can be said to be the last normal year for the economy. The progress of the mining and quarrying industries from 1957—1965 illustrates the effect of capital investment through mechanisation, whereby a little more than two-thirds (44,300) of the labour force in 1957 (63,710) produced a gross product of a little more than 30% (£34.7m.) above the 1957 figure (£26.3m.). Even making allowance for the conversion of the gross production to real terms this would indicate at worst a maintaining of the level of production with a saving of one third of the labour force.

A RJE conference paper on industrialisation and employment opportunities in the then Rhodesia. Paper presented at the Symposium for Rhodesian Industrialisation, June 11-12, 1969.