Government plans to tackle unemployment through increased investment;  boosting public and private investment, focusing on private capital. Secondly, government will foster more diversified economic growth beyond traditional sectors as well as supporting SMEs. 

Answering a question in Parliament on Monday, Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe, said government, through Statistics Botswana, monitored labour market developments using two complementary survey instruments including the Quarterly Multi-Topic Surveys (QMTS) and the Botswana Multi-Topic Household Surveys (BMTHS).

 He said QMTS provided interim and short-term labour market indicators between major household surveys, while the BMTHS was conducted periodically. 

Minister Gaolathe added that the 2024/25 BMTHS was designed with labour modules comparable to the 2015/16 BMTHS, thereby enabling long-term trend analysis across benchmark surveys. 

He noted that the most recent QMTS, conducted in the first quarter of 2024, from January to March, recorded a national unemployment rate of 27.1 per cent. 

He further told Parliament that broader quarterly series data from Statistics Botswana showed an upward movement in unemployment, particularly the rate increased by four percentage points, rising from 21.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 25.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023. Regarding long-term trends from benchmark surveys, he said Statistics Botswana conducted the BMTHS 2024/25 between November 2024 and November 2025 and preliminary results, pending final validation, estimated the national unemployment rate among persons aged 15 and above at 21.0 per cent. 

“When compared to the 2015/16 BMTHS, which recorded an unemployment rate of 17.6 per cent, this represents an increase of 3.4 percentage points,” he added. 

The Minister noted that the difference lay not in the direction of the trend but in the purpose and methodology where quarterly data reflected short-term movements at specific points in time, while the BMTHS reflected structural changes over a long period. 

Regarding the total number of unemployed persons, including discouraged job seekers, Mr Gaolathe pointed out that based on preliminary BMTHS 2024/25 results, unemployed persons were estimated at 213 437, compared to 147 206 in 2015/16, an increase of 45 per cent. 

Conversely, he said discouraged job seekers were estimated at 86 671, compared to 133 276 in 2015/16, representing a decline of about 33.5 per cent. 

“The increase in the number of unemployed persons alongside the decline in discouraged job seekers does not represent a contradiction,” he explained, noting that discouraged job seekers were those who had stopped looking for work, whereas unemployed persons were actively seeking employment.Legislators heard that the decline in discouraged job seekers may indicate that more individuals had re-entered the labour market and resumed active job searches. However, Mr Gaolathe explained that creating between 450 000 and 500 000 jobs over the next four years required deliberate and enabling economic environment. First, he said it required higher levels of both public and private investment, with clear emphasis on crowding in private capital. 

Secondly, he noted the need for faster, more diversified economic growth, including the expansion of productive sectors beyond traditional drivers. 

Mr Gaolathe emphasised that this must be supported by stronger private sector participation, targeted support for SMEs and labour-absorbing value chains. 

He further told Parliament that government was pursuing such conditions through the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP) and the twelfth National Development Plan (NDP 12). 

The BETP, he said had identified 186 projects across six economic priorities and was expected to unlock approximately P514 billion in cumulative investment and ultimately generating 512 000 jobs. 

He also said that while employment levels had grown over time, labour force growth had continued to outpace job creation, placing upward pressure on unemployment. 

Member of Parliament for Bobirwa, Mr Taolo Lucas, had asked for clarity on current unemployment rates, the distinction between unemployed persons and discouraged job seekers and the feasibility of government’s job creation targets. ENDS