Employment levels restored to pre-pandemic times

ZIMBABWE has managed to restore employment and school enrolment levels to pre-Covid-19 pandemic times while boosting its food security capacity in line with the positive economic recovery strides.

Although thousands of people lost their jobs during pandemic-induced lockdowns since 2020, Zimbabwe’s economy has exhibited strong resilience evidenced by increased domestic production and higher export earnings.
Supportive Government policy measures, coupled with increased investments in capital projects and business expansion initiatives have helped cushion the economy from the adverse impacts of Covid-19, among other external shocks.

Agriculture and mining sectors have registered huge milestones to become key anchors of economic recovery.
In its report on the 8th round of the rapid Poverty Income Consumption and Expenditure (PICES) survey issued on Tuesday, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstats) noted that the country has managed to reverse the negative impact of the pandemic on jobs and schools.

The PICES project is an initiative by ZimStat with technical and financial support from the World Bank through the Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund and UNICEF.
The survey has been conducted regularly since the onset of Covid-19 to assess the impact of the pandemic shock on key socio-economic outcomes such as employment, school enrolment, food security, and poverty, among others. To date, nine survey rounds have been completed.

World Bank country director, Ms Marjorie Mpundu

In her remarks during the report dissemination meeting, outgoing World Bank country director, Ms Marjorie Mpundu, said frequent data have painted a profound picture of the early impact of the pandemic, its evolution, and household response to the shock.
“Employment has by and large returned to the pre-pandemic level. Any fluctuation is likely due to seasonal variation or factors other than the lockdown, closures, and trade restrictions associated with the pandemic,” she said.

“More than two years after the pandemic, the coverage of social assistance programs remains low compared to the need.
“Despite many people losing their jobs, livelihoods, and income, the coverage and adequacy of social assistance did not increase in response to the large systemic shock of the pandemic.”
According to Zimstat data from the round-eight survey, which was conducted between July and August 2022, employment was at 53 percent as compared to 59 percent during round-seven survey that was done between January and June.

The survey was focused on assessing factors such as household access to basic necessities such as food, medicine, water, education, impact on income, food security, and welfare support programs, as well as improving targeting and management of Covid-19 vaccination, prices of basic commodities and currencies used for transactions.
Over and above-improved employment levels, ZimStat director general, Mr Taguma Mahonde, said there was a notable improvement in the consumption of own produce at the national level from 43 percent in round seven to 48 percent in round eight.

ZimStat director general, Mr Taguma Mahonde

Resultantly, only 41 percent of households were willing to buy maize-meal in round eight, a decrease from 46 percent in round seven.
He said in rural areas the demand for maize meal dropped from 41 percent in round seven to 32 percent in round eight due to dependence on own-produced food.
“Twenty-four percent of households needed medicines or treatment in round eight, compared to 22 percent in round seven. Of these households, 75 percent were able to buy medicine compared to 74 percent in round 7,” said Mr Mahonde. -chronicle.co.zw