By Own Correspondent

RESEARCH and stockbroking firm, IH Securities says working poverty in Zimbabwe continues to rise on the back of loud calls for authorities to urgently enact laws to protect the country’s poor.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines working poverty as a situation where individuals are employed in full or part-time jobs but still struggle to make ends meet and live below the official poverty line and have to claim income-related welfare benefits.

Despite global statisticss showing the share of workers in extreme poverty declining since 2000, the research says Zimbabwe’s trends have been worsening since the collapse of the Government of National Unity.

“The country’s working poverty, as defined by the employed populace living below US$2.15 a day, has grown from 20.17% in 2013 to 35.35% in 2024 with wages in the 75th percentile falling in the US$272-US$362 range,” the report said.

The research firm established the local population remains largely rural, informalized, and low-income.

According to the ZimStat 2024 First Quarter Labour Force Survey, unemployment at a national level stood at 20.5%. However, using the expanded definition of unemployment, the country’s unemployment currently rests at 39%.

The ILO believes that promoting decent work and productive employment is the best way to end working poverty, paying attention to the situation of young people in the labor market, improving the tax base and fighting tax evasion as some of the strategies to fight working poverty.

Speaking to workers during the belated commemorations of the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW), ZCTU president, Florence Taruvinga blamed the government’s insatiable appetite to protect investors at the expense of decent work standards.