18 Aug 2017

Statistician general says overall unemployment rate for population aged 15 years and above was estimated at 17.7 per cent.

Speaking at a press conference on Botswana Multi Topic Household Survey; Economic activity results hosted by Statistics Botswana, Ms Anna Majelantle said the preliminary findings of the survey on economic activity covered issues of labour force participation, employment and unemployment.

“The brief also has information on characteristics of the employed population such as their training levels, employing industry, sector and occupation,” she said.

She indicated that taking into consideration that majority of those aged under 18 years were still pursuing their education and were regarded as children, an estimate of unemployment rate for those aged 18 years and above was 17.6 per cent.

Ms Majelantle said as regards to gender comparison, the female unemployment rate was higher than that of their male counterparts as it was estimated at 19.1 per cent compared to 16.3 per cent for males.

“The data suggest an improvement in unemployment rates from 19.9 per cent in 2011,” said Ms Majelantle.

With regards to overall employment, she said total population aged 18 years and above was estimated at 1 268 677 of which 838 002 were economically active and 430 675 were economically inactive.

She noted that of the 838 002 economically active population, 690 901 were employed and 147 101 were unemployed.

Ms Majelantle further said the private sector remained the largest employer as it employed 44.6 per cent of the labour force, followed by public administration with 22.1 per cent, private households with 12.2 per cent and subsistence farming with 9.9 per cent.

“The majority of the employed were in the elementary occupations and services or sales with 28.8 and 18.6 per cent respectively.

The third largest category was the craft workers who constituted 10.4 per cent of the occupations,” she continued.

She said the survey estimated youth (15-35years) unemployment at 25.2 per cent, with female unemployment higher at 26.9 per cent compared to 23.6 per cent for males.

“Majority (39.4 per cent) of those who were unemployed were junior certificate holders followed by secondary school certificate holders with 22.4 per cent.

Unemployment among university degree holders was estimated at 11.4 per cent,” she explained.

Statistics Botswana conducted the multi modular survey called the Botswana multi topic household survey in 2015/16.

The primary objective of the survey was to provide a comprehensive set of indicators for labour market and poverty.

The survey had a total of 16 modules covering a range of topics and the final product would be a comprehensive survey report. ENDS