WINDHOEK – Results of the 2013 Labour Force Survey, which was conducted by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), indicate that Namibia’s unemployment rate increased by just over two percent compared to 2012.
According to the NSA, which launched the 2014 Labour Force Survey at a local hotel yesterday, the official broad unemployment rate for 2013 was 29.6 percent, compared to 27.4 percent for 2012.
Furthermore, the 2013 Labour Force Survey shows that 70.9 percent of Namibia’s population (980 781 people) aged 15 years and over is in the economically active group, which forms the labour force, while 29.1 percent (403 273 people) is considered outside the labour force. “Not all news is bad news. We have to look at the good numbers even within the bad numbers. Looking at the high unemployment numbers means that government should be pumping more money into the economy,” noted Daniel Oherein, Deputy Director of Labour Studies at the NSA.
During yesterday’s launch, Oherein explained that the NSA has had to correct past mistakes in unemployment calculations, particularly relating to inconsistencies in data generated between 2000 and 2008 on the variables for subsistence farming and other informal economic activities. In 2004 for instance, the country’s unemployment figures included subsistence farmers and family farm workers, who were then grouped as an economically inactive part of the population.
In contrast, in 2008 this same grouping was considered as an active component of the labour force but were then classified as unemployed.
Oherein explained that during the 2012 survey, subsistence farmers and family farm workers were re-inserted back into the equation, and were considered “employed” if they derived an income from their activities.
Unemployment rates are calculated either according to a broad definition or according to a strict definition, of which the Southern African Development Community (SADC) recommends the use of the former.
The broad definition of unemployment is defined as those people that do not have a job but are currently available for work. The strict definition of unemployment includes those people who do not have a job, have actively been looking for work at least four weeks prior to the survey, and are currently available for work.
The methodology used in the Labour Force Survey is based on the enumeration areas (EAs) of the 2011 Population and Housing Census and the households within the EAs.
According to Oherein, there are more than 6 000 EAs in the country, also known as primary sampling units, which each consist of between 40 and 120 households. The NSA then selects about 18 households within each of the primary sampling units. “The first phase of the survey is to list the households within each primary sampling unit, after which households are randomly selected to be interviewed by more than 400 interviewees throughout the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, the NSA’s Director of Demographics and Social Service, Lina Kafidi, yesterday called on close cooperation with regional leaders and law enforcement officials to make the 2014 Labour Force Survey a success.