News / Local
Byo has the highest unemployment in Zimbabwe
17 May 2014 at 05:54hrs | Views
BULAWAYO has the highest unemployment in Zimbabwe as the province continues to reel under company closures, latest census figures show.
The final Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) report on the 2012 national census also showed that the city's population had declined to 653,000 from 676,000 in 2002.
Bulawayo has 430,972 people aged 15 years and above, 61 percent of whom are economically active, but a staggering 27 percent of them are unemployed. The national jobless average is 11 percent.
Matabeleland North follows with a 20 percent unemployment rate while Harare is third with 17 percent.
Matabeleland South and Mashonaland West both have 11 percent unemployment while the Midlands unemployment rate is at 10 percent.
Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland East provinces have the least number of unemployed people at six percent.
The data also shows that more males than females were economically active in Bulawayo, and that most of the employed persons were in the services sector.
Bulawayo's minister of State for Provincial Affairs Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo said the challenge of unemployment was not peculiar to the province alone but was a nationwide problem.
"I haven't got the statistics that Bulawayo has the highest unemployment, but what I can say is the government has introduced Zim-Asset to deal with some of these challenges," she told Chronicle.
"The policy is all about innovative people not those that want to wait for government to do something for them."
Her office, Moyo said, was ready to offer land to young people who want to embark on small projects.
"What the city needs is to be creative and venture into projects that will create jobs for its youths. Employment doesn't mean you should work for someone, but you can do your own project. Also, indigenous people must try and take the industries that have closed so that they can make use of them."
A labour consultant, Ndumiso Sibanda, said Bulawayo's high unemployment could be a result of the collapse of industries in the city and relocation of some companies to other cities, in particular Harare.
"Bulawayo was home to heavy industries. It's gone. The larger employers have gone," said Sibanda.
He said Bulawayo became a casualty of businesses scaling down operations.
"The job seeker pattern is also affecting the city as very few people want to come to Bulawayo to look for jobs given the economic decline the city has suffered. Bulawayo is slowly turning into a dormitory town affected by labour migration to Harare and South Africa," said Sibanda.
He said the trend was that as part of costs containment, companies were closing branches outside the capital.
"Their thinking is that they would rather be where government offices are and where banks are headquartered," said Sibanda.
The final Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) report on the 2012 national census also showed that the city's population had declined to 653,000 from 676,000 in 2002.
Bulawayo has 430,972 people aged 15 years and above, 61 percent of whom are economically active, but a staggering 27 percent of them are unemployed. The national jobless average is 11 percent.
Matabeleland North follows with a 20 percent unemployment rate while Harare is third with 17 percent.
Matabeleland South and Mashonaland West both have 11 percent unemployment while the Midlands unemployment rate is at 10 percent.
Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland East provinces have the least number of unemployed people at six percent.
The data also shows that more males than females were economically active in Bulawayo, and that most of the employed persons were in the services sector.
Bulawayo's minister of State for Provincial Affairs Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo said the challenge of unemployment was not peculiar to the province alone but was a nationwide problem.
"I haven't got the statistics that Bulawayo has the highest unemployment, but what I can say is the government has introduced Zim-Asset to deal with some of these challenges," she told Chronicle.
Her office, Moyo said, was ready to offer land to young people who want to embark on small projects.
"What the city needs is to be creative and venture into projects that will create jobs for its youths. Employment doesn't mean you should work for someone, but you can do your own project. Also, indigenous people must try and take the industries that have closed so that they can make use of them."
A labour consultant, Ndumiso Sibanda, said Bulawayo's high unemployment could be a result of the collapse of industries in the city and relocation of some companies to other cities, in particular Harare.
"Bulawayo was home to heavy industries. It's gone. The larger employers have gone," said Sibanda.
He said Bulawayo became a casualty of businesses scaling down operations.
"The job seeker pattern is also affecting the city as very few people want to come to Bulawayo to look for jobs given the economic decline the city has suffered. Bulawayo is slowly turning into a dormitory town affected by labour migration to Harare and South Africa," said Sibanda.
He said the trend was that as part of costs containment, companies were closing branches outside the capital.
"Their thinking is that they would rather be where government offices are and where banks are headquartered," said Sibanda.
Source - Chronicle
