This paper examines the extent to which garment industry in Swaziland has contributed to the economic empowerment of the Swazi people through creation of new jobs and improvement in their overall welfare. In Swaziland as elsewhere in many African countries, unemployment has been and is still a major constraint to the countryâs sluggish economic growth. In response to the unemployment situation in the country, Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority (SIPA) was established in 1977 under the Ministry of Enterprise and Employment with the main aim of attracting, encouraging, promoting, and facilitating both local Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in the country. Among the efforts to entice foreign investors into the country was the construction of several factory shells to be used by would be investors. This initiative led to the influx of garment firms into the country primarily driven by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This analysis is based on a survey data of 235 employees randomly selected from five garment firms in the country. Understanding the actual contribution made by the garment industry towards the countryâs economy is important for the government for it to reassess its economic policies regarding unemployment and poverty alleviation strategies. The empirical results show that the industry created employment for 64% of the sample, most of them females. It also enhanced the general welfare of the people by improving family expenditures on education, health and ensuring food security. Consequently, it can be concluded that the industry has the potential to contribute significantly to the economic empowerment of the Swazi people.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Length: Date of creation: Nov 2008 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:ags:aaae07:52106
Contact details of provider: Postal: c/o FORMAT, 5th Floor, Muthaiga Mini Market, Limuru Road, P.O. Box 79 - 00621Village Market, Nairobi, Kenya Phone: 254 20 6752866 Email: Web page: http://www.aaae-africa.org More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (AgEcon Search).
Did you know? All full texts are decentralized with the publishers, none reside on this server, thus making it possible to offer this service for free to all parties.