ZIMBABWE National Statistics Agency Tuesday shocked the nation after announcing the country’s unemployment rate stands at a parltry 16 %.
The details are contained in the recently released 2019 Labour Force and Child Labour Survey.
“Only 566 449 people constituting 16 % of the total labour force are unemployed,” the report said.
According to the document ,persons in employment were defined as all those of working age (15 years and above) who,during the 7 days preceding the interview, were engaged in any economic activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit only.
They comprise employed persons “at work”, that is, who worked in a job for at least one hour, and employed persons “not at work”.
The 2019 LFCLS estimated the total number of currently employed
persons at 2.9 million.
More than 60% of the employed persons in Zimbabwe were coming
from the agriculture sector.
The 2019 LFCLS estimated the national women share in wage
employment in the non-Agriculture sectors at 43%.
The 2019 LFCLS established that about 552 thousand constituting 19% of persons in employment were in precarious employment.
The statistics therefore position Zimbabwe’s employment rate at a position higher than that of neighboring South Africa which has a sound economic climate when compared to Zimbabwe.
Market watchers have criticised the survey’s findings saying they are not reflective of the situation on the ground.
Currently Zimbabwe has a record 1.2 million people who have given up hope of securing employment but under the new Zimstat classifications such people are categorised under potential labour force.
