By Own Correspondent

WOMEN continue to endure unsustainable unemployment rates in Zimbabwe, faring far below men in what indicates the urgent need for customised policies to address the deficits, latest data by the Zimbabwe National Statistics (Zimstat) has revealed.

The glaring statistics affecting the nation’s most populous sex which stands at 52% of the total population hints that the journey to eradicate poverty in Zimbabwe remains a pipedream since the majority are living on the fringes of marginalisation.

“Economically inactive and unemployed people among the working-age population of 9 046 415 are women, who constitute 59,6%,” said Zimstat.

The 2022 population and Housing Census preliminary results on the labour force also observe that the national unemployment rate stood at 14,8%.

A trend visible throughout the report observes that across all provinces, unemployment was higher for females than males.

In Matabeleland North, 31,6% of females and 17,9% of males were unemployed.

 “At the national level, the youth unemployment rate was 23,4%. Harare and Mashonaland Central provinces had youth unemployment rates of 19,9% and 20,3%, respectively.

“Within provinces, female youths had higher unemployment rates than male youths. In Matabeleland North, 41,7% of the females were unemployed as compared to 25,6% of the males.”

Harare accounted for the highest number of employed persons (26,4%), followed by Mashonaland West with 12,8% of the 9 046 415 working population.

Available data shows that about 60% of women in the current labour force are unskilled, roughly 30 % skilled and just 2,5% highly skilled.

Deplorably, a large proportion of the employed women dominate the informal economy where they are their own account workers where they earn salaries which are way below the poverty lines. Low incomes and harsh working conditions are the reality of the informal economy.