Labour markets remain dynamic - Experts

Economic analysts at Econsult, a local firm, have said that the local labour markets trends have been dynamic since 2019, despite COVID- 19 pandemic uncertainties that was expected to worsen things.

“The lifting of the SoPE has not resulted in large job losses as previously feared, this may be due to greater than expected economic growth in 2021, maintaining employment and preventing job losses,” said Econsult’s researchers, Sethunya Kegakgametse and Kitso Mokhurutshe.

SoPE barred retrenchments despite companies being hard- hit by the impacts of COVID- 19 pandemic, as firms mooted retrenchments to cut cost.

The duo indicated that the reported direct impact of COVID- 19 on employment has remained largely similar between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2021 with very few changes in the survey results. “A total of 17,770 people found jobs due to COVID- 19, reflecting year- on- year decline of 7.0 percent,” said the researchers, quoting the figures from Statistics Botswana’s latest Quarterly Multi- topic Survey ( QMTS).

The researchers however, bemoaned that there is no data of COVID- 19 related employment by industry.

“But we do know that urban villages accounted for 46.7 percent of new employment, followed by rural areas with 41.7 percent and last cities and towns 11.7 percent. The survey results estimate that 64,347 individuals lost their jobs or businesses due to COVID- 19, recording a year on year decline of 4.1 percent.

“Interestingly, the number of reported job losses due to COVID- 19 is far higher than the reduction of overall employment. This indicates that there is still some dynamism in the labour market, with new jobs being created or employment opportunities emerging at the same time. Despite the unsettled labour markets, government is making frantic efforts to lure foreign direct investment into the country, through several investment engagements.