Zim tops work permit holders in Botswana

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Thursday November 12, 2009 00:00

Government statistician Anna Majelantle says this on the CSO website when outlining, the latest estimates of work permit holders as at end of September 2009.  She states that information on work permit holders gives an indication of whether the idea of localisation is being achieved or not. She adds that it is also of interest to know whether the number of work permit holders is decreasing or not, over time. Presentation of work permit holders by occupation and industry gives an indication of jobs currently held by non-citizens, which will serve as a useful tool in the efforts of researchers, planners and policy makers in the country, Majelantle says.

According to the report for November 2009 on their website, there were 17,982 work permit holders recorded as active at the end of September this year. Of these 12,662 (70.4 percent) were employees and 5,320 (29.6 percent) were self - employed. The report also revealed that the proportion of females is low at only 22.8 percent (4,095 persons) of the overall work permits. The number of work permit holders went up by 527 persons (3.0 percent) as compared to the previous quarter and a significant increase was from the male permit holders, which accounted for 403 persons (2.3 percent).

Comparison of September 2008 and September 2009 estimates as depicted showed an increase of 4,092 persons (29.5 percent) from 13,890 persons in September 2008 to 17,982 persons in 2009. Work permit holders increased by 5,800 persons (59.2 percent) from 9,802 in 2001 to 15,602 in 2008.

The age distribution shows that a large proportion of employees work permit holders is found in the age range of 25-29 years with 2,905 persons (22.9 percent), followed by 30-34 and 35-39 years with 21.8 percent (2,766 persons) and 18.4 percent (2,329 persons) respectively.

The agriculture industry had the highest number of permit holders with 3,812 persons (30.1 percent), followed by Construction and Real Estate with 2,606 persons (20.6 percent) and 1,700 persons (13.4 percent) respectively while manufacturing constituted 1,193 persons (9.4 percent) and Foreign Mission was the least with 22 persons (0.2 percent). Real Estate was the dominant activity for self-employed work permit holders with 1,503 persons (28.3 percent) followed by Wholesale & Retail Trade with 1,366 persons (25.7 percent) and Manufacturing with 796 persons (15.0 percent). The least was Mining & Quarrying with seven persons (0.1 percent).