20,000 jobs gone!
The number of employed people in the country fell by about 20,000 between March and December 2020, reflecting the impact of COVID-19, Statistics Botswana data released this week shows
Workers across the country have been devastated by the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Also called COVID-19, the pandemic has triggered the worst jobs crisis since the 2008/09 economic meltdown, resulting in an exceptionally stark drop in activity and unprecedented job losses.
A startling indicator, the quarterly Multi-topic survey: Labour Force Module Report quarter 4 of 2020 released by Statistics Botswana, the employed population recorded a decline of 2.4 percent between quarter one and four, from 751, 798 to 733, 875 people.
This was accompanied by an increase of 5.4 percent of unemployed persons, from 226, 598 to 238, 731 persons over the period. Formal sector employment went down from 492, 914 in quarter one of 2020 to 477, 716 in quarter four of 2020, a decrease of 3.1 percent, the report says.
The report also indicates that youth labour force increased by 4.9 percent between quarter one and four of 2020, from 485, 554 to 509, 195. Youth unemployment rate went up by 1.9 percentage point over the period, from 30.5 to 32.4 percent.
Moreover, the survey found that unemployment rate went up by 1.3 percentage points, from 23.2% in quarter one of 2020, to 24.5% in quarter four 2020. While this numbers are already new, Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) warned that this is not a true reflection of the real situation as the situation could be much worse than that. “According to us, the report is not comprehensive.
The report as it is, depicts a bad status of job crisis in the country and we should take it seriously. But we say the situation is worse because the report does not include other industries especially in the informal sector as part of the statistics,” BFTU secretary general Thusang Butale argued, reacting to the report. Giving an example of the alcohol industry, which has been dormant due to the alcohol ban, Butale said the report did not include the number of people who remained employed but did not earn a salary.
He said BFTU’s position was that those should be included as well as others in other industries facing similar situations. “As a federation, we look at it to that extent. This means unemployment has gone up and is much worse than the captured numbers. It could get even worse after when the State of Public Emergency (SoE) ends because now companies will start laying off people (in earnest),” he added.
Butale further explained that while the federation was yet to interrogate the variables of the country’s economic status as a middle income economy, it was certain to get a dent. He said the impact since the emergence of the pandemic was real to be ignored, with now government turning to already hard hit citizens for recovery action through taxes and levies. He said the country was in the red zone due to effects of COVID-19, as such its economic status was impacted and likely to get worse as government introduces and increases tax as a way of reform. This, he said, hit the pockets of the few that remained employed and those that were jobless. However, he explained that how a country reacted to these challenges was critical to its recovery.
Whether President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s administration has a solid plan remains to be seen. Before the 2008 economic meltdown, the economy of Botswana was one of the fastest growing ones.
It was touted Africa’s success story in terms of what it had achieved from the poorest nation before the discovery of diamonds to an upper middle income economy. Before that, the country’s democratic activities were in large funded by donors, which of course dried up when the country got the middle income status. But the current situation could mean the country could go back to square one and need donors assistance.
“There is an issue there as well. The economic status has a bearing on democracy, engagement and participation of the civil society and trade unions, which are critical organisations to governance and democracy.
As it is already, organisations need funding for democratic activities to promote its principles,” said Butale. According to Butale, the restrictions put down to control the spread of the coronavirus could also impact the strength of democracy.
He explained that maintaining good democracy means that organisations whose mandate also include protection of citizens rights against government, should be able to convene, hold congresses and get mandate from the general membership while, in other instances, by elections have to be held. This is not the case currently under covid-19. He argued that, holistically, all this affected democracy at the national level. “We believe there must be creation of sustainable employment with decency.
Any policy framework to alleviate poverty and prosperity for all should be anchored on employment creation so that at the end people can survive and that is the responsibility of government to employ people, create enabling environment for private sector, SMMEs for creation of jobs.
As a country we need to focus on policies that are people oriented, economically empower citizens, engage in radical industrialisation for transformation of the economy to deliver jobs,’’ he said. For his part, Botswana Federation of Public Private Parastatals Unions (BOFEPUSU) deputy secretary general Ketlhalefile Motshegwa concurred that the employee population has declined, and this spelt serious repercussions for the country as more and more people will be thrown to the jaws of poverty.
He said the rising levels of unemployment were indicative of a failing government in so far as social justice was concerned. “More people unemployed pose a national security as crime and other social ills are bound to be on the rise,” Motshegwa asserted.
He added that being fortress of the working class and the poor, as a federation they were highly concerned by this ugly situation. “Government has closed out social partners on matters of public policy such as employment policy, budget process and doing things in a unilateral manner that doesn’t address the challenges and aspirations of the people.”
Their take is that the government must be serious about employment creation, through employing more people, creating an enabling and supportive environment for SMME for the informal sector to thrive and prosper. “We call on government to engage social partners at tripartite structures for engagement of policy issues affecting amongst others employment creation, social protection and social justice.