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Martin Kadzere
DESPITE fears of drastic livelihoods losses due to coronavirus, Zimbabwe has been less badly affected by the deadly global pandemic after the country recorded a marginal increase in employment numbers between August and September last year, according to a latest survey by the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT).
The survey, conducted in partnership with the World Bank and UNICEF shows that employment rate, both in urban and rural areas rose marginally to 52 from 51 percent between July and August when the first round of the survey was conducted.
The survey builds on the Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (PICES) of 2017 and 2019 and used a sample of 1 747 households in round one and 1 639 households in round two (current survey) from all 10 provinces.
It is referred to as the Rapid PICES Monitoring Telephone and summarises the results of the second round, conducted from August 24 to September 23, 2020, and compares them to the findings of the first round done between July 6 and 24, 2020.
The African Union projected that nearly 20 million Africans in both formal and informal economic sectors were under threat due to severe disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 11, 2020, nearly 1,8 million people have succumbed to the deadly virus with confirmed cases at about 80,8 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. Beyond its impact on human health (materialised by morbidity and mortality), coronavirus has disrupted an interconnected world economy through global value chains.
“The economic activity, especially in the informal sector was only seriously affected during the initial stages of the lockdown but as the Government relaxed the restrictions, people began to carry out their normal businesses,” said Carlos Tadya, a researcher with a local think tank.
“And of course, we cannot ignore the situation where lockdown rules were broken as people carried out their daily activities.”
Zimbabwe imposed lockdown restrictions in March last year as part of broader measure to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
During the second half of the year, the country has recorded increased local production on the back of a stable exchange rate, while some companies took advantage of reduced imports resulting from trade restrictions to expand capacity utilisation.
While a number of jobs were safeguarded and others created, this was not enough to offset job losses. The share of wage workers among the employed fell from 42 to 38 percent between the two survey rounds, and the share of respondents operating their own business or working in a household farm increased.
A higher proportion of wage earners reported receiving their wages. This share was 92 percent in round two compared to 64 percent in the first round, the survey noted.
The survey show that in urban areas, the employment rate increased from 61 to 64 percent and marginally went up from 45 to 46 percent. The employment rate of male workers rose from 54 in round one to 56 percent in round two, while that for female worker, job rate rose from 43 to 45 percent during the same period.
However, households reported a further reduction in income from wages and non-farm businesses since the round one interviews. Among those with a non-farm household business, almost two-thirds stated their incomes dropped since the last survey, and incomes also dropped for 31 percent of wage earners.
“The drop in income partly reflects a fall in purchasing power due to the depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar in which most incomes are received,” said the report.
“At the same time, the proportion reporting a reduction in assistance from Government or NGOs and charitable organisations increased since the last survey round.”
Online Reporter
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