Zimbabweans troubled by high unemployment




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Most Zimbabweans are reportedly troubled by the high unemployment rate. This is revealed in the latest Afrobarometer survey distributed by the media recently.

Statistics show that Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate is estimated to be at over 90% while the government places it at around 10% as it considers the informal sector or self-employed citizens as employed.

The survey states that unemployment remains the most important problem that Zimbabweans want their government to address.

It also notes that Infrastructure/roads, education, management of the economy, and water supply follow as top priorities on citizens’ agenda.

“While rankings vary somewhat by respondents’ location, gender, generation, and education levels, the major concerns are fairly consistent across demographic groups,” reads the survey.

“Unemployment is Zimbabweans’ biggest concern in which it was cited by 38% of respondents as one of their top three priorities for government action. Also 33% cited infrastructure/roads, 31% cited education, 26% cited management of the economy and 20% cited water supply as the major priorities they would want the government to address urgently,” read the survey.

“Alack of jobs is more widely seen as a priority in the cities (45%) than in rural areas (33%), as is management of the economy (36% vs. 19%) Rural residents are more likely than their urban counterparts to prioritize health (25% vs. 11%) and water supply (23% vs. 16%).”

The survey noted that men are somewhat more likely than women to rank unemployment and infrastructure/roads among the most important problems that the government should address.

“More women than men cite food shortage as a top concern. Among youth, unemployment (40%) and education (35%) top the list of priorities. Among respondents with primary schooling or less, education (33%) ranks as the Number  1 concern,” reads the survey.

Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. Seven rounds of surveys were conducted in up to 38 countries between 1999 and 2018.

Source – Byo24