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Stats agency releases retracted youth unemployment rates

The Namibia statistics agency this week released employment and unemployment figures. The retracted rates of youth employment and unemployment was due to erroneous calculations on the rate of youth labour force participation and the rate of youth employment and unemployment.
As a result of the error, the calculation for unemployment rates for both 2012 and 2013 were also found to be wrong. The youth unemployment rate for 2012 was found to be 38.3% from 210 074 unemployed youth in a labour force pool of 294 202 and 37.7% in 2012.
The corrected youth unemployment rate was put at 22.8% lower than the actual youth unemployment rate for 2012. The Labour Force Participation Rate of 2012 was also reset at 60.5% from a labour pool of 456 085 employed and unemployed youth and a working age population of 753 806.
The Youth Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) is the proportion of the population between 15 to 34 years that is economically active.
The re-submitted data from the statistic agency takes into consideration that the working age youth population was not included in the initial findings of the individual youth labour force survey of 2012 and 2013. Which is used in finding the youth participation rate and youth employment and unemployment rate.
The findings and analysis of the youth employment and unemployment report took into consideration the patterns of youth employment, causes of youth unemployment and skills mismatch.
According to the findings education mismatch had negative consequences on wages, often resulting in a wage penalty for those over-educated as compared to being under-educated. While employers matched permanent jobs more accurately with education levels.
The Youth Employment and Unemployment Report found half of the youth employed in the informal sector are more likely to find employment within a year of leaving school or in-between jobs. Employment figures also show a labour mismatch between the skills of prospective employees and the needs of the labour market. The survey found unemployment among the youth more in the rural areas and among those with no education as education levels and gender have always played a role in the high youth unemployment.

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