When numbers don�t make sense

Statistics Botswana says unemployment is declining yet the situation on the ground suggests the opposite
Statistics Botswana says unemployment is declining yet the situation on the ground suggests the opposite

Statistics Botswana (SB) recently released the country’s unemployment figures, extrapolated from the Botswana Multi Topic Household Survey (BMTHS) of 2015/16, which show that the national jobless rate has fallen to 17.6%.

While some people see this as a welcome development to the country, whose unemployment rate once hit a record high of 26.2% in 2008, others question the figure or its significance, saying it might not reflect the realities of Botswana’s job market.

On the ground, it seems that job prospects for university graduates have declined, with fewer and fewer people finding full-time employment after completing higher education.

Editor's Comment
BPF should get house in order

Speaker of the National Assembly, Dithapelo Keorapetse, has this week rightly washed his hands of the mess, refusing to wade into a party squabble that has no clear leadership and no single version of the truth.When a single party sends six different letters to the Speaker’s office, each claiming to be the authoritative voice, it is not just confusion, but an embarrassment.Keorapetse is correct to insist on institutional boundaries. Parliament...

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