Jobless rate rises

OGONE TLHAGE The Namibia Statistics Agency has revealed that about 349 383 people are currently looking for work but are unable to find jobs, resulting in an unemployment rate of 34%.This follows the conclusion of the National Labour Force Survey which found that the unemployment rate had increased by 6.1%.The NSA also found that women lag behind men when it comes to unemployment, with a significantly larger proportion of unemployed women.Men also appear to earn more.Revealing the findings, statistician-general Alex Shimuafeni said: “The broad unemployment rate among the female population aged 15-years and above is 38.3%, which is higher than their male counterparts’ rate of 29.8%.“Similarly, the broad unemployment rate is higher and more pronounced in rural areas for the population aged 15 years and above at 39.2%, than in urban areas where the unemployment rate is 30.3%.”According to him, youth unemployment also showed a slight increase.“During the period under review, the broad unemployment rate among the youth is 43.4%, [showing] an increase of 4.5 percentage points compared to the broad unemployment rate of 39% among the youth as reported in 2014,” he said.The survey also found that the Kunene, Zambezi and Ohangwena regions had the highest unemployment.“At the regions, the broad unemployment rates are highest in Kunene, Zambezi and Ohangwena where the rates are 52.2%, 48% and 45.4% respectively. The rate is also higher in females than males in all the regions except in Ohangwena and Omusati where the rate for females is lower than that of the males,” said Shimuafeni.He also noted that there was a decline in the total labour force.“There has been a decline in the total number of employed people in these sectors when compared to the 2014 labour force survey with 206 722 people or 29.2% employed.”Women earn less than men, the survey found.“In terms of income levels, the average wage is N$6 759 per month, an increase of N$133 since 2014 when the average wage was N$6 626. It is a bit higher for males (N$6 850) than for females (N$6 642).“Across industries, the average wage is N$19 907 per month, which is earned by people in professional, scientific and technical activities, while the lowest is N$1 334 per month, which is associated with the activities of households.”A detailed National Labour Survey report will be released on 30 June, he indicated.This is the fourth labour survey. The first three were conducted in 2012, 2013 and 2014.Significant Commenting on the report, Economic Association of Namibia executive Klaus Schade said the unemployment rate had increased substantially from 27.9% in 2014 to 34% in 2016.“The rise in unemployment was caused by the drought that resulted in job losses in the agricultural sector of more than 70 000 between 2014 and 2016. Some other sectors experienced also job losses such as the wholesale and retail trade sector of more than 30 000,” he said.“This is rather surprising since the sector showed stronger economic growth in 2015 (8.2%) and in 2016 (3.4%) than the economy at large. Private households employ about 7 000 fewer domestic workers than in 2014, which could be an indication of less disposable income at household level.”According to him, there are a number of positive aspects in the labour force report too.“Hotels and restaurants employed some 18 000 persons more than in 2014, advancing to one of the major employers in the country. It once again underlines how important the industry is for the economy and that we do our utmost to maintain the sector.“The manufacturing sector that is the focus of a number of government initiatives has added 16 000 jobs and the construction industry some 6 000.”The figures for the construction industry show that the completion of major construction projects and government cuts had not yet filtered through to employment levels, he said.“While the construction sector has shed quite a number of jobs recently, employment opportunities in the agricultural sector have certainly improved due to the good rainfalls so that the situation on the labour market is most likely not worsening this year,” Schade commented.

Jobless rate rises

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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Jobless rate rises

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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