Statistics Botswana’s quarterly Labour Force Module which shows results for data collected in the third quarter of 2023 (July to September 2023) reveals the monthly average cash earning by occupation for wage earners amongst many others. According to the report, the average earnings for managers were the highest at P21, 942 followed by Professional and Technicians and Associate Professionals with P19, 653 and P13, 725 respectively. The reports also states that basic occupations average earnings were lowest at P1, 393. Moreover, the report which presents information on employment, unemployment, and wages from the formal sector further disclosed that non-citizens earn more than citizens with the former getting P15, 863 average earnings compared to an estimated P7, 296 for the latter. For both citizens and non-citizens, on average it is P7, 692 for all employees. In terms of gender, male employees’ average monthly cash earnings were estimated at P8, 668 compared to P6, 815 for their female counterparts in the formal sector.
Despite this disparity, the report shows that females earn more than male counterparts in industries like mining and quarrying, transport & storage, finance and insurance activities and activities of extraterritorial organisations. In one case of shocking gender disparity, a male in real estate activities P44, 930 while his female counterpart earns a meagre P6, 160. However, when it comes to comparing industries, the report showed that a person working activities of extraterritorial organisations can earn up to P51, 075 as of the fourth quarter of 2023. Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing on the other side has the lowest earners with a person getting P2, 858 monthly on average. “Comparing the fourth quarter of 2022 (October to December 2022) estimated average cash earning from the QMTS Formal Sector Employment (FSE) with the third quarter of 2023 shows that there was an increase in average earnings, an increase of 13.1 percent. The estimated third quarter of 2023 formal sector employment monthly average cash earnings for wage earners was P7, 692, compared with P6, 803, which was estimated for the fourth quarter of 2022,” the report further stated.
Other statistics about the formal sector shows that the highest percentage (41.2%) of people in formal sector employment had secondary school education as their highest education attainment. These were followed by those with university and educational college education with 26.0% and 9.2 percent respectively. A small percentage (0.3 percent and 0.2 percent) of people in formal sector employment have non-formal education and apprenticeship. The report also disclosed that Gaborone recorded the highest number of people working in the formal sector, recording 18.5% (90,884 persons), followed by Kweneng East with 12.1% (62,314 persons) and Central Serowe with 8.1 percent (39,711 persons). It also revealed that females dominated their male counterparts in formal sector employment constituting 51.7% as compared to the 48.3% of their male counterparts.
“Persons employed in the formal sector are largely concentrated in the ages 25 to 44 years, with age group 30-34 recording the highest employment with 15.8% (77,531 persons). The 40-44 and 35 – 39 years age groups followed with 15.4% and 15.2% respectively, (75,476 and 74,820 persons). Age group 25-29 recorded 12.6 (61,748 persons) percent.” In terms of formal sector employment by Industry, Statistics Botswana revealed that that Public Administration had the largest proportion of employment at 29.3% (143,647 persons), followed by Education with 12.7% (62,151 persons) and Wholesale, Retail & Repair of Motor Vehicles at 12.5% (61,488 persons) of total employment. At the industry level, Real Estate activities had employed more females, accounting for 85.7% of employees working in the industry, followed by Education with 68.6%. Electricity, Gas, & Air Supply and Construction activities were the two industries which had employed lowest proportion of females, recording 7.85 and 17.85 respectively. Overall, the total formal sector employment was recorded at 490,861, of which 237,295 were males (48.3%) and 253,566 (51.7%) were females. With regards to formal sector employment by citizenship, Statistics Botswana found out that out of the 490,861 in the formal sector employment, 19,561 were non-citizens, (4.0%), while 471,300 were citizens, (96.0%). At the industry level, wholesale, retail & repair of motor vehicles had more noncitizens employees, recording 19.0% (3,752 persons), followed by education and manufacturing with 15.9% (4,343 persons) and 14.6%(3,489 persons), respectively.
Meanwhile, last year Finance Minister Peggy Serame adjusted the minimum wage rates to cater for inflationary adjustment and the ever-increasing standards of living in the country. The revised rates which took effect on February 1, 2024 saw the increase of the statutory minimum wage rates in all trades/industries by 23.5% except the Agricultural and Domestic Sectors for 2023/2024 financial year. Serame also announced that they would be an increase of statutory minimum wage rates for the Agriculture and Domestic Sector by 38.4% to P1500.00 per month for the 2023/2024 financial year. One other adjustment was the alignment of the statutory minimum wage rate for the Retail Distributive Trade with other sectors with an initial once-off increase of 12.75% to adjust the hourly rate from P6.51 to P7.34 and subsequently be increased 23.5% like other sectors. The minister told Parliament late December that she considered that there were several factors and variables to be assessed so as to come up with a balanced and well informed minimum wage regime that benefits both the employer and the employee.
“I wish to inform this house that this adjustment is an interim measure, pending a comprehensive review of the minimum wage rates to address all prevailing challenges and/or gaps,” she said. Serame added that the envisaged comprehensive review would also catagorise the various sectors of the economy, taking into cognisance the uniqueness of sectors, performance of sectors, conditions that employees work under, emerging or new forms of work for the realisation of decent work in this country. The finance minister indicated that she had considered the discussions and recommendations of the Minimum Wages Advisory Board and other factors such as the level of wages in Botswana, the cost of living, the employer’s ability to pay as well as the general needs of the employees in the affected sectors. “I am convinced that an adjustment to the minimum wage rates is necessary to cater for inflation, increasing cost of living and restore the workers purchasing power,” she said.
The applicable sectors in the February 1 adjustment of minimum wages were building, construction, exploration and quarry industries, wholesale distributive trade, manufacturing, services and repair trades, hotel, catering and entertainment trades, garage, motor trade and road transport, retail distributive trade, watchmen employed in the above industries and trades or any sector thereof, security guards employed by security companies.
