adminAddressing participants during the 2011 Labour Force and Child Labour Survey dissemination workshop in Bulawayo yesterday, Zimstat director-general Mr Mutasa Dzinotizei said reports that Zimbabwe has an unemployment rate of more than 70 percent were not based on empirical findings and hence were misleading.
“Unemployment is defined as all persons above a specified age, who during a reference period were without work or were not in paid employment or self employed. It refers to people who are available for work, people who are seeking work and have taken specific steps to seek for work or self employment,” said Mr Dzinotizei.
“On the basis of the 2011 Labour Force Survey unemployment rates in Zimbabwe, using broad and strict definitions were 10, 7 percent and 5, 4 percent respectively. These compare with the 9 percent and 4, 4 percent rates in 2004.”
Mr Dzinotizei said every person who produces goods and services and contributes to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was considered to be employed even if he or she was not in formal employment.
He, however, admitted that only 11 percent of the country’s active population was in formal employment and that 84 percent were in the informal sector.
“We have heard a lot of criticisms and figures about the unemployment rate in the country. The question is on what basis are those figures based. Zimstat findings are guided by the national system of accounts and the internationally recognised standards of practice and definitions,” said Mr Dzinotizei.
According to the survey results out of 6, 1 million economically active persons (16 years and above) 89 percent of them were employed and about 11 percent were unemployed.
The survey further notes that 54 percent of the economically active population was absorbed in the agriculture sectors as communal and resettled farmers.
Agriculture, fishing and forestry absorbed the largest number of the country’s workforce.
The youth (15 to 34), however, constitute the largest group of unemployed with revelations that four out of every five unemployed persons were youths.
During the open discussion participants, who included representatives of Government departments from five provinces in the southern region, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Midlands, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South expressed concern over the increase in the number of unemployed youths.
There was also confusion over the unemployment rate statistics in the country with participants, saying Zimstat findings were not logical given the fact that a lot of graduates from universities and colleges were not formally employed.
Others sought clarity on the labour statistics involving Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and their contribution to the national economy
Online Reporter