By Own Correspondent

EMPLOYMENT creation continued to rise in the first quarter of 2024, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) has reported.

According to the Agency’s first quarter Labour Force Survey report, the embattled Southern Africa country witnessed its first quarter-on-quarter rise in employment in the post-Covid era during the first quarter of 2024.

As at 31 March 2024, total employed persons in Zimbabwe had risen to 3,289,853; up from 3,173,293 in Q4 2023.

This was on the back of 101,352 workers losing their jobs during the same period, meaning that the economy added a total of 217,912 jobs in Q1 2024.

The total labour force, composed of persons aged 16 and above, expanded to 4,14 million from 4 million in the previous quarter. The labour force is the aggregation of total employed persons and those actively seeking employment.

The Labour Force Participation Rate (the portion of persons 16 and above that make up the labour force) climbed from 46.3% to 48%, indicating that almost half of the working-age population is now engaged in the labour market either through employment or active job-seeking.  

A large portion of the total workforce remains in the informal sector, comprising 41.3% of total employment. However, Q1 2024 saw a 2.4% decline in informal employment to 1.36 million workers; alongside a 1.4% rise in formal employment to 988,586. Formally employed persons make up 30% of the total workforce.

Wholesale and Retail trade, and Agriculture remain the top-employing industries in Zimbabwe; employing 23.9% and 22.9% of the workforce respectively. 48% of informally employed persons are in the Wholesale and Retail trade industry.

While the unemployment rate remains high at 20.5%, there was a marginal decrease from 20.7% in Q4 2023. This translates to 850,326 unemployed persons in Zimbabwe.