COVID-19 destroys 67,132 livelihoods
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Saturday February 13, 2021 15:35
The report on jobs data released this week presents results for data collected in the fourth quarter; from October to December 2020.
It presents information on employment, unemployment, wages from the formal sector, youth employment and unemployment, disability employment and other labour force indicators. Also included in the report is the impact of COVID-19 on employment and household enterprises.
The survey revealed the pandemic mostly affected females.
It shows that a total of 38,906 females (58%) were recorded to have lost jobs or businesses whilst 28,226 males (42%) were recorded to have been affected.
It is said that a total of 29,300 persons of the estimated population that lost jobs/businesses due to COVID-19 reported pounding the pavement.
“Age group 25-29 years reported the highest percentage (24.1%) of the job seekers. This was followed by age groups 30-34 and 20-24 years with 19.9% and 15.9% respectively,” read part of the report.
Moreover, the survey revealed that out of a total of 67,132 persons reported to have lost jobs/businesses due to COVID-19, only 2,720 (4.1 percent) were able to find new jobs.
The majority of people who were able to find new jobs/businesses were males with 69.6%, while females recorded the remaining 30.4%.
The results of the survey also showed that secondary school leavers were the most prevalent job/business losers due to COVID-19.