Browsing: unemployment

Tanzania’s third five-year development plan focuses on creating employment for its fast-growing youth population. The country plans to increase the employability of its graduates and youth in general through a comprehensive skills development program. According to a report, Tanzania’s five-year development plan will cut unemployment from 9 per cent in 2019 to 8 per cent by 2025/26.…

According to the World Bank, skilled workers enhance the quality and efficiency of product development, production, and maintenance and supervise and train workers with lesser skills. As a matter of fact, countries with well-established TVET systems tend to enjoy lower youth unemployment.

This is because the orientation of TVET coupled with the acquisition of employability skills allows it to address issues such as skills mismatch that has impeded smooth school-to-work transitions for many young people. Lower youth unemployment is key to improving lives and building stronger communities necessary for growth.

There is no doubt that Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda are leading their East African counterparts in promoting technical skills training in their respective countries.…

The index pointed to a solid improvement in the health of the private sector economy, helped by a recovery in business activity as Covid-19 cases continued to fall across the country.

New business levels at Kenyan companies rose sharply in February, as survey panellists commented on a rebound in customer demand and increased marketing efforts.

The rate of growth was the second-fastest since October 2020.

Export sales rose to a much greater extent than in January, but growth remained weaker than seen in the fourth quarter of last year.…

Zimbabwe's food security levels are quite low, but there is a promise of a better outcome from the previously anticipated situation. This is mainly because the country has received above-average levels of rainfall during the current rain season. There is hope that the expected bumper harvest will help bring resolution to the challenges of food insecurity.

However, there is still a need for food aid due to the deficit emanating from the two previous consecutive poor rainfall seasons experienced in most districts of Zimbabwe. The droughts resulted in poor harvests, which caused inadequate household food stock from personal production.…

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South Africa achieved independence in 1994, but years later, there has been little improvement in the general populace’s poverty levels. While the country remains one of Africa’s strongest economies, statistics indicate that close to 50% of the population lives in poverty. (Based on south African government poverty measure where the upper bound poverty line is approximately $70 per month.)

The covid-19 pandemics have exacerbated the issues of poverty in the country. South Africa has one of the highest infection rates in Africa and more recently has been dealing with a mutated version of the virus that has since been christened the South African variant. Lockdowns and covid 19 restrictions have pushed many out of employment, and businesses have been forced to shut down. Estimates indicate that close to 1million people may fall below the poverty line.

According to a World Bank Report, the inequality of apartheid lives on. The

South Africa’s unemployment soars have risen to levels last seen in 2008. According to the country’s National Statistics Agency, 30.8% of South Africans are now unemployed. This figure is the highest the country has experienced since 2008.

SA unemployment rate
COVID causes rising unemployment. Source: Trading Economics

The statistics are mainly caused by the effects of COVID-19 on the economy. The southern African country, one of the most industrialized in Africa, was among the first to record a case of COVID-19 on the continent. It is also one of the most heavily affected countries in Africa.

In response to the pandemic

the government instituted a raft of measures to flatten the infection curve. The covid response involved a total lockdown which halted economic activity, affecting revenue for the industry and other productive sectors of the economy. (https://rpdrlatino.com)  

The lockdown hit businesses severely, prompting restructuring which has seen many employees losing their

Kenya’s unemployment rate doubled between April and June as 1,716,604 Kenyans lost jobs in this period according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

According to the KNBS quarterly labour report, the number of those who have jobs (employed) shrunk to 15.9 million from a high of  17.8 million in Mach.

The unemployment rate in Kenya now stands at 10.4 per cent from 5.2 per cent in March with the employment to population ratio decreasing from 64.4 per cent to 57.7 per cent.

The number of people without jobs increased by 58.6 per cent to 1.8 million people from 961,666 in the first quarter.

The unemployment figure is however further aggravated by a rise in the number of the long-term unemployed(individuals with continuous periods of unemployment extending for one year or longer) and individuals outside the labour force which masks the unemployed statistics.


source: tradingeconomics.com

The long-term unemployed increased …

Egypt’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 9.6 per cent during the second quarter (Q2) of 2020 according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) report.

The latest figures from the report show a  slight increase of 1.9 per cent compared to the 7.7 per cent reported in Q1 of 2020 and an increase of 2.1 per cent from Q2 of 2019.

According to CAPMAS, the number of unemployed reached 2,574 million, which is 9.6 per cent of the total workforce, of which 1,934 million were male and 640,000 were female. his compared to the 2,236 million unemployed in Q1 of 2020, reflecting a 15.1 per cent increase to 338,000.

According to CAPMAS, the rise in Egypt’s unemployment rate is due to the repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic.

As a precautionary measure, the government of Egypt put in measures that saw the international air traffic suspended, closure of schools, …

The Moroccan planning agency revealed on Wednesday that, the country’s unemployment rate slipped to 9.2 per cent in 2019 from 9.5 per cent in 2018. This was attributed by the offset labor gains in town and cities, after heavy job losses within the rural areas, Reuters revealed.

Morocco which is now run under a new coalition-government, its economy was spotted by World Bank (in October 2019) to be slowing down below its potential constrained by a volatile, rain-fed, agricultural sector and slow growth in the tertiary sector.

According to World Bank, real GDP slowed to 2.7 per cent in 2019, while non-agricultural growth improved by 3.4 per cent (compared to 3 per cent in 2018), driven by the better performance of phosphates, chemicals, and textiles.

READ U.S.-Africa Business Summit 2020 to be hosted in Morocco

In addition, the government is currently working to develop a new model of economic development …

The fourteenth edition of the 2019 African Economic Conference (AEC) has commenced in Sharm El Sheikh—Egypt, raising serious ideas towards sending a crucial call to African policymakers to gain a rather strong hold in addressing unemployment among youth in Africa.

According to a statement from African Development Bank (AfDB), African governments are expected to eradicate setbacks and high startup costs that African youth face, in order to create decent well-paying jobs.

The AEC is jointly organized every year by the African Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to discuss pertinent issues affecting the continent.

This year’s event is running on the theme: “Jobs, entrepreneurship, and capacity development for African youth”.

Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr, gave out a rather vital aspect on the matter during his opening plenary, highlighting that, the conference provided a critical platform to …