By Own Correspondent

WOMEN and youth stand lesser opportunities to secure stable jobs in Zimbabwe, a recent study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has established.

The globally reputable organ states that all things being equal, women and young workers are four times more likely to be inactive than men and adult workers respectively.

“These results confirm the persistence of cultural factors abating incentives for women to enter the labour force. Prevalent social norms in the division of labour along gender lines make women more likely to be involved in household chores, the care of children and elderly, or farm activities,” said ILO.

The study states that youth who enter the labour market may also face additional barriers to find a job, partly due to a lack of work experience, difficulties signalling their skills to employers, fewer opportunities to access capital and lower levels of social capital.

“Nonetheless, the results suggest these issues are likely to be secondary relative to other more structural factors that affect all workers regardless of age and gender. Wealth is the next factor affecting inactivity and unemployment,” said the study.

It was also established that for other variables, workers living in poor households are more likely to be inactive or unemployed.

 The correlation is particularly strong in the case of inactivity for both women and men, as well as young and adult workers. The risk of unemployment can also be correlated with wealth, although the correlation is less important in the case of women.

However, these correlations do not imply causality; wealth is likely to be lower in households with a high proportion of workers who are not generating income.

The main barriers to access or maintain employment suggest that any strategy to increase participation rates and reduce unemployment would need to pay particular attention to poor and vulnerable households.

 Geographical location was also singled out as a contributing factor especially where individual lives make a difference in terms of participation in the labour market and employment opportunities.

“For women, the effect of geography is similar to that of men in the case of inactivity, but higher in the case of unemployment. Regarding youth, geography is more important than for adult workers in terms of inactivity and unemployment,” the study observed.

The study noted that one interpretation is that social norms and the structural factors that affect employment opportunities are likely to vary by region and are more binding for women and young workers.

“These results emphasize the importance of having a regional perspective when designing strategies to improve employment opportunities,” the study added.