The unemployment rate in Zimbabwe decreased by 1.3 percentage points (-12.88 percent) compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, the last two years recorded a significantly higher unemployment rate than the preceding years.The unemployment rate refers to the share of the economically active population currently without work but in search of employment. The unemployment rate does not include economically inactive persons such as the long-term unemployed, children, or retirees.Find more key insights for the unemployment rate in countries like Tanzania and Malawi.

The youth unemployment rate in Zimbabwe declined to 14.29 percent in 2023. Nevertheless, the last two years recorded a significantly higher youth unemployment rate than the preceding years.The youth unemployment rate refers to the share of the economically active population aged 15 to 24 currently without work but in search of employment. The youth unemployment rate does not include economically inactive persons such as the long-term unemployed or full-time students.Find more key insights for the youth unemployment rate in countries like Mozambique and Malawi.

South Africa is expected to register the highest unemployment rate in Africa in 2024, with around 30 percent of the country's labor force being unemployed. Djibouti and Eswatini followed, with unemployment reaching roughly 28 percent and 25 percent, respectively. On the other hand, the lowest unemployment rates in Africa were in Niger and Burundi. The continent’s average stood at roughly seven percent in the same year.

Large shares of youth among the unemployed

Due to several educational, socio-demographic, and economic factors, the young population is more likely to face unemployment in most regions of the world. In 2024, the youth unemployment rate in Africa was projected at around 11 percent. The situation was particularly critical in certain countries. In 2022, Djibouti recorded a youth unemployment rate of almost 80 percent, the highest rate on the continent. South Africa followed, with around 52 percent of the young labor force being unemployed.

Wide disparities in female unemployment

Women are another demographic group often facing high unemployment. In Africa, the female unemployment rate stood at roughly eight percent in 2023, compared to 6.6 percent among men. The average female unemployment on the continent was not particularly high. However, there were significant disparities among African countries. Djibouti and South Africa topped the ranking once again in 2022, with female unemployment rates of around 38 percent and 31 percent, respectively. In contrast, Niger, Burundi, and Chad were far below Africa’s average, as only roughly one percent or lower of the women in the labor force were unemployed.

The statistic shows the seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate in EU member states as of November 2024. The source defines youth unemployment as unemployment of those younger than 25 years. In November 2024, the seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate in Spain was at 26.6 percent. Youth unemployment rate in EU member states Unemployment is a crucial economic factor for a country; youth unemployment is often examined separately because it tends to be higher than unemployment in older age groups. It comprises the unemployment figures of a country’s labor force aged 15 to 24 years old (i.e. the earliest point at which mandatory school education ends). Typically, teenagers and those in their twenties who are fresh out of education do not find jobs right away, especially if the country’s economy is experiencing difficulties, as can be seen above. Additionally, it also tends to be higher in emerging markets than in industrialized nations. Worldwide, youth unemployment figures have not changed significantly over the last decade, nor are they expected to improve in the next few years. Youth unemployment is most prevalent in the Middle East and North Africa, even though these regions report high unemployment figures regardless (Zimbabwe and Turkmenistan are among the countries with the highest unemployment rates in the world, for example), and are also highly populated areas with a rather weak infrastructure, compared to industrialized regions. In the European Union and the euro area, unemployment in general has been on the rise since 2008, which is due to the economic crisis which caused bankruptcy and financial trouble for many employers, and thus led to considerable job loss, less job offerings, and consequently, to a rise of the unemployment rate. Older workers are struggling to find new jobs despite their experience, and young graduates are struggling to find new jobs, because they have none. All in all, the number of unemployed persons worldwide is projected to rise, this is not down to the economic crisis alone, but also the industrial automation of processes previously performed by workers, as well as rising population figures.

Contains data from the World Bank's data portal. There is also a consolidated country dataset on HDX.

The supply of labor available in an economy includes people who are employed, those who are unemployed but seeking work, and first-time job-seekers. Not everyone who works is included: unpaid workers, family workers, and students are often omitted, while some countries do not count members of the armed forces. Data on labor and employment are compiled by the International Labour Organization (ILO) from labor force surveys, censuses, establishment censuses and surveys, and administrative records such as employment exchange registers and unemployment insurance schemes.

In 2023, Eswatini had the highest unemployment rate in the world, at 37.6 percent. Of the 10 countries with the highest unemployment rates, nine were in Sub-Saharan Africa. What exactly is unemployment? The unemployment rate is the number of people in the workforce currently looking for jobs but not working. This number does not include students and retirees, as they are not looking for work, nor does it include people who have given up on finding a job (known as discouraged workers). Comparing international unemployment rates can be problematic, however, as different countries use different methodologies when classifying unemployment. For example, Niger records the third lowest unemployment rate in the world, despite often being listed as the least developed country worldwide - this is because the majority of the population engage in subsistence farming, with very little opportunity for paid employment. Causes of unemployment in less developed countries A major driver in unemployment in these countries is conflict. In particular, internally displaced persons (IDPs) want to work, but moving to another part of the country disrupts their business network and moves them into a local economy with different labor demand. Countries with low levels of economic development, as roughly indicated by a low GDP per capita, often have fewer labor market opportunities, leading to high unemployment rates.

Abstract

Since 2014, UNHCR has undertaken a comprehensive revision of the framework for monitoring UNHCR Livelihoods and Economic Inclusion programs. Since 2017, mobile data collection (survey) tools have been rolled out globally, including in Zimbabwe. The participating operations conducted a household survey to a sample of beneficiaries of each livelihoods project implemented by UNHCR and its partner. The dataset consists of baseline (103 observations) and endline data (89 observations) from the same sample beneficiaries, in order to compare before and after the project implementation and thus to measure the impact.

Geographic coverage

Harare Tongogara

Analysis unit

Household

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample size for this dataset is: Baseline data : 103 Endline data : 89 Total : 192

The sampling was conducted by each participating operation based on general sampling guidance provided as the following;

• At least 100 randomly selected beneficiaries for each project
• Representativeness of sub-groups (gender, camp, etc.) should be kept as much as possible
• Baseline and endline beneficiaries should be the same

Sampling deviation

Some operations may deviate from the sampling guidance due to local constraints such as logistical and security obstacles.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

The survey questionnaire used to collect the survey consists of five sections: Partner Information, General Information on Beneficiary, Access to Agricultural Production Enabled and Enhanced, Access to Self-Employment/ Business Facilitated, and Access to Wage Employment Facilitated.

Cleaning operations

The dataset presented here has undergone light checking, cleaning, harmonisation of localised information, and restructuring (data may still contain errors) as well as anonymization (includes removal of direct identifiers and sensitive variables, and grouping values of select variables). Empty values can occur for several reasons (e.g. no occurrence of agricultural interventions among the beneficiaries will result in empty variables for the agricultural module).

Response rate

Information not available

The unemployment rate in Mozambique decreased to 3.54 percent compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, the last two years recorded a significantly higher unemployment rate than the preceding years.The unemployment rate refers to the share of the workforce that is currently not working but is actively searching for work. It does not include the economically inactive population, such as the long-term unemployed, those aged under 15 years, or retired persons.Find more key insights for the unemployment rate in countries like Zimbabwe and Malawi.

In 2021, there were just over 165 thousand jobs in the travel and tourism sector in Zimbabwe. This was an increase of nearly 12 percent compared to the previous year, which is mainly the result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In total, tourism contributed 2.5 percent of jobs in Zimbabwe.

In 2023, the youth unemployment rate in Tanzania did not change in comparison to the previous year. The youth unemployment rate remained at 3.49 percent. The youth unemployment rate refers to the share of the economically active population aged 15 to 24 currently without work but in search of employment. The youth unemployment rate does not include economically inactive persons such as the long-term unemployed or full-time students.Find more key insights for the youth unemployment rate in countries like Zimbabwe and Madagascar.

In 2023, the youth unemployment rate in Rwanda remained nearly unchanged at around 21.97 percent. Still, 2023 marked the second consecutive decline of the youth unemployment rate. The youth unemployment rate of a country or region refers to the share of the total workforce aged 15 to 24 that is currently without work, but actively searching for employment. It does not include economically inactive persons such as full-time students or the long-term unemployed.Find more key insights for the youth unemployment rate in countries like Zimbabwe and Djibouti.

In 2021, the sector of travel and tourism accounted for 2.5 percent of the total employment in Zimbabwe. Despite a decrease in the number of jobs compared to 2019, there were 165 thousand jobs in travel and tourism in Zimbabwe in 2021.

The youth unemployment rate in Ethiopia saw no significant changes in 2023 in comparison to the previous year 2022 and remained at around 5.58 percent. The youth unemployment rate refers to the share of the workforce aged 15 to 24 that is currently not working but is actively searching for work. It does not include the economically inactive population, such as the long-term unemployed or full-time students.Find more key insights for the youth unemployment rate in countries like Zimbabwe and Somalia.

In 2022, Zimbabwe was ranked as the most miserable country in the world with a misery index score of 414.7. Venezuela ranked second with an index score of 330.8.

Quality of life around the world The misery index was created by the economist Arthur Okun in the 1960s. The index is calculated by adding the unemployment rate, the lending rate and the inflation rate minus percent change of GDP per capita.

Another famous tool used for the comparison of development of countries around the world is the Human Development Index, which takes into account such factors as life expectancy at birth, literacy rate, education level and gross national income (GNI) per capita.

Better economic conditions correlate with higher quality of life

Economic conditions affect the life expectancy, which is much higher in the wealthiest regions. With a life expectancy of 85 years, Japan led the ranking of countries with the highest life expectancy in 2020. On the other hand, Lesotho was the country with the lowest life expectancy, where men were expected to live 50 years as of 2022.

The Global Liveability Index ranks the quality of life in cities around the world, basing on political, social, economic and environmental aspects, such as personal safety and health, education and transport services and other public services. In 2022, Vienna was ranked as the city with the highest quality of life worldwide.

Travel and tourism contributed approximately four percent to Zimbabwe's GDP in 2021. Compared to 2020, the contribution of tourism to the economy of Zimbabwe experienced a slight increase. This was due to the closure of the travel sector for five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Looking at the domestic and international spending in the travel sector, the total expenditure decreased from nearly one billion U.S. dollars in 2019 to 880 million U.S. dollars in 2021.

Employment in the tourism industry

A total shutdown of the tourism sector for nearly half a year had a severe impact on the employment within the industry and led to the loss of many jobs. In 2020, there were approximately 147 thousand jobs in the travel and tourism sector of Zimbabwe, which is a decrease of about 18 percent compared to 2019. However, despite this significant decline, the industry held roughly 2.5 percent of the total employment in the country.

Most tourists came from Africa

 The most common origin of tourists that visited Zimbabwe in 2021 came from the African continent. 16 percent of the visitors came from Malawi , whereas Namibia and Zambia had a share of 15 percent of the total international tourists each. Mozambique and the United States completed the ranking with 12 percent and five percent, respectively.

Mozambique was the country in Southern Africa in which agriculture had the highest contribution to employment as of 2020. The sector accounted for nearly 70 percent of the total employment in the country. Zimbabwe ranked in second place, with agriculture corresponding to 66.3 percent of the total employment. On the other hand, agriculture had the least participation in employment in South Africa, at five percent. Overall, the Southern African region had one of the lowest shares of agriculture contribution to employment in Africa.