Shock as unemployment levels decline

Isaac Pinielo | Wednesday August 16, 2017 18:00

 

Statistics Botswana statistician general, Anna Majelantle told the media yesterday that Botswana’s total population aged 18 years and above was estimated at 1.268 million of which 838,002 were economically active.

“Of the 838,002 economically active population, 147,101 were unemployed with the private sector remaining the largest employer at 44.6%.

The data suggests an improvement in unemployment from 19.9% in 2011.”

Unemployment for the youth aged between 18-35 years was estimated at 25.1%.

The data was extrapolated from the Mutli Topic Household Survey of 2015/16. The figures show that the majority (39.4%) of those unemployed were junior certificate holders followed by secondary school certificate holders with 22.4%.

Unemployment amongst university degree holders was estimated at 11.4%. She noted that the majority of the employed were in the elementary occupations and services or sales with 28.8% and 18.6% respectively. “The third largest category was the craft workers who constituted 10.4% of the occupants,” said Majelantle.

As regards gender comparison, she said the female unemployment rate is higher than that of their male counterparts as it is estimated at 19.1% compared to 16.3% for males. The survey estimated youth aged between 15 and 35 years unemployment at 25.2%, with female unemployment higher at 26.9% compared to 23.6% for males.

The sentiment on the ground however in Botswana is that the rate of joblessness is increasing with economic consultancy firm, Econsult estimating that there were about 40,000 new entrants in the labour market between 2013 and 2015, but only 2,200 jobs were created.

Despite robust growth in Botswana over the past decades, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says unemployment and income inequality have remained high, as the capital-intensive mining industry has been the major driver of growth.

Since 1991, real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Botswana has averaged nearly  five percent while the unemployment rate has remained persistently high averaging 18% of the labor force.

Income inequality is also high by international standards, with a Gini Index of nearly 60.

In a country report released last week, the IMF said Botswana authorities have recognised the need to successfully address the problems of unemployment and inequality, but results thus far have fallen short of expectations.

“Employment in Botswana has shown little responsiveness to changes in economic activity. Lack of skills in the labour force and skill mismatches have been the most serious challenge, compounded by an overly restrictive policy on permits for foreign workers and high wages in the public sector.”