Semester-end ‘chest pains’ as unemployment greets graduates
Lewanika Timothy | Tuesday June 27, 2023 09:15
His statements echo the experience of thousands of graduates who have been left exposed to the crushing realities of Botswana’s jobless economy.
As universities pause for the winter break, the class of 2023 is left to grapple with the spectre of joblessness, a situation that puts pressure back on families and leaves them with the responsibility of taking care of the young adults post-graduation.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that annually 35,000 graduates hit the job market in Botswana and creating jobs for these young men and women has however proved to be an uphill task for both government and the private sector.
According to Statistics Botswana’s Quarterly Multi-Topic Survey covering the period to December 2022, extended unemployment, that is the combination of those actively seeking and those not seeking employment, stood at 328,926.
What breaks the camel’s back is that alongside the rising tide of unemployment, graduates find themselves embattled in a fight against an unstable macroeconomic environment, adversely affected by inflation and other challenges.
The trend of low labour absorption has cut across all sectors defying the adage that science and finance are relatively safe areas untouched by the plague of unemployment. This adage proved true in the past when the labour market was seeking to replace expatriates with locals, a tale that no longer holds as the tables have turned.
Statistics Botswana work permits data shows that expatriates in the mining and quarrying sector only account for 2.6 percent of employees and this is a sector which has been among the leading absorber of engineers in the country.
Tsotlhe Ngwako, a banking and finance graduate from the Botswana Accountancy College, tells Mmegi that to her dismay and shock, finding a job in the ever-evolving finance sector has been a two-year-old nightmare that has not borne any fruit. This, she says, is contrary to the prevailing narrative given to her at her undergraduate level by lecturers and people in the banking sector.
“The situation is depressing. “There are limited job openings and I can’t apply for some vacancies because they require 10 years’ experience,” says the disheartened Ngwako.
University of Botswana finance graduate, Martin Israel, who is also unemployed, says it may be time for government to reprioritise spending. According to Israel, government spending should dynamically shift to enhancing entrepreneurship which has an enormous role in job creation. “Government must increase spending on vocational training and promote entrepreneurship which can tackle the unemployment rate," he said.
Labour specialist, Keaoleboga Dipogiso, believes government does not have the correct measures for unemployment as a start to addressing the challenges. He says the adopted way of defining unemployment thwarts the ability to see the real picture of the crisis in Botswana.
“The system excludes long-term job seekers who have given up on seeking employment opportunities. “It also includes participants of programmes such as Ipelegeng, even though the job done is very precarious and attracts meagre income,” he said.
Tackling unemployment in Botswana has been the key priority of all the country’s five presidents.
Dipogiso believes the efforts to tackle the situation have failed and this is because the labour development strategy in place is counterintuitive to that which it seeks to achieve.
According to him, the country must improve its human capital development strategy in a way that is tailor-made for the needs of the local economy. He further said that it is important to ensure that skills taught at tertiary institutions are appealing to the current needs prevalent in the economy.
“If the country continues to train individuals in trades that are oversubscribed, we are likely to see more saturation in the market,” Dipogiso said.
The fight against unemployment continues mounting pressure on the Government Enclave. But in the meantime, the pinch will continue to be felt by the graduating classes who remain stranded with qualifications that cannot make any ends meet for them.