By Own Correspondent

DESPITE years of labour advocacy and fighting for the working class equality, Zimbabweans continue to earn slave wages lagging far behind the Total Poverty Consumption Lines (TCPL).

Latest data revealed by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency in the second quarter Labour Force Survey established that as at April 2022 , 62% of employed people were earning approximately Z$20 000.

“Among the paid employees, 27% earned income of less than Z$20 000 again during the month of April 2022,” said Zimstat.

While Zimstat said 3.3 million of the 9 million working-age population were currently employed, 88% of the employed population were informally employed.

“Among those employed in the non-agriculture sectors, 85 percent were informally employed,” said Zimstat.

The Agency also revealed that 48.8% or 1 367 291 of youth between 15-24 were just “roaming around the streets' '.

These are youths that are unemployed and not receiving an education or vocational training.

The age group (15-19) years had the highest expanded unemployment rate of 73%. Youths (15-24) years had a national expanded unemployment rate of 67% while the national expanded unemployment rate for youths (15-34) years was 58%.

Zimstat defines an expanded unemployment rate as the combined rate of unemployment and potential labour force (PLF), where the potential labour force consists of working-age persons who during the reference period; were without paid work.

The current tide reflects a desperate situation which has been further worsened by the unsustainably high levels of informalisation bedeviling the country with the International Monetary Fund classifying Zimbabwe the worst five highly informalised economies globally.

International literature on labour shows that there are serious challenges for decent work attainment in highly informalised economies as employers easily evade workers rights.

The obtaining situation therefore calls for urgent robust activism by the working class in the push for equality.