Zimstats says only 11% of Zimbabweans are unemployed

In its 2016 survey report, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) said that the country’s’ unemployment rate was now 11.3%, far below the 85-90% range widely used commentators and the opposition.

In the report the Government agency said,

The explanation for the substantial gap between the two estimates of unemployment is the size of the informal sector. Of this potential workforce, some 750,000 people – most of them students – are defined as economically inactive, while 800,000 are officially defined as unemployed. This gives an overall unemployment rate of 11.3%, far below the 85-90% figures widely used in the media.

However, according to the Zimstat report, 94.5% of the 6.3 million Zimbabweans defined as employed are working in the informal economy,

The largest number (4.16m) is made up of smallholder farmers in communal agriculture, followed by 615,000 in trade and commerce. Some 210,000 are said to have informal jobs in manufacturing 70,000 in mining, 118,000 in education and 92,000 in transport.”

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The report went on to say that, as formal-sector employment has fallen, wages have increased.

The average wage has increased by almost one‑third but the vast majority of workers are still earning less than the officially estimated total consumption poverty line for a family.

More: NewZimbabwe.com