A recent Statistics Botswana’s Quarterly Multi-Topic Survey on Labour reveals a depressing scenario on unemployment in Botswana. Should the coalition win the General Election in October, the Duma Boko-led coalition says the plan is about “jobs, more jobs, higher paying jobs, sustainable jobs, and diversified jobs”. UDC led the way last weekend by becoming the first political party to launch its manifesto which is rich with promises of jobs and other commitments. UDC in its manifesto says its objective is to adopt a new economic strategy that diversifies the economy, grows it sustainably above 10% GDP per annum, produces quality goods and services, creates jobs and distributes wealth that empowers all citizens. “Botswana needs an economy with a capacity to sustainably employ and generate jobs, for an existing and increasingly youthful workforce of about one and half million people.
The desire is not just to create jobs, but to create high-paying job opportunities. Botswana also needs a diversified economy that is resilient in the face of increasingly unpredictable global economic conditions, as well as an economy that generates and distributes wealth to the majority of citizens,” reads part of the UDC’s manifesto. The UDC says the Botswana economy has for more than a decade now been experiencing a “jobless growth” phenomenon where there is no meaningful ‘net add’ to jobs even in episodes of any economic growth. According to the UDC, official figures suggest unemployment figures of 35% or more (for the youth) even though common sense points to a more alarming joblessness crisis. “The guinea coefficient is desperately skewed, dramatising an extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of the privileged few,” the manifesto stated.
