At least 38% of Zimbabwean workers are in jobs which they are under-qualified to work in, a recent publication by the International Labour Organisation has revealed.
According to the document, the southern African nation is among a group of low income countries with high numbers of people who are under-educated for their jobs.
“Zimbabwe’s share of over-educated 13% and share of under educated 38%,” the document said.
The statistics are not different from trends among other neighbouring countries.
Zambia, which is in the lower middle income economy, has 14% of its workforce over-educated while 39 % being under-educated.
Other three regional counterparts classified as upper middle income economy like Botswana has 12% over-educated and 48% under-educated with Namibia having 17 % over-educated and 48 % under-educated with South Africa, which has 30% over-educated and 21% under-educated.
“Under-education is more common and more serious in low-income countries than elsewhere, while over-education is more prevalent in high-income countries.The ten countries with the highest share of workers in mismatch by educational level are all either low income or lower-middle income,” ILO said.
Overall, more than 935 million workers in the world have jobs that don’t match their educational level: 72% of them or 677 million are under-educated for their jobs, while the remaining 28% or258 million are over-educated.
The survey covered 114 countries.
