- Unemployment outranks all other issues as the country’s most important problem that Zimbabweans want their government to address, cited by 45% of respondents as one of their top three priorities.
- Food shortage/famine (32%) comes second in citizens’ priorities for government action, followed by health (31%), education (21%), water supply (20%), corruption (20%), and management of the economy (19%).
- Unemployment has consistently ranked at or near the top of the country’s most important problems, in citizens’ eyes.
- Nearly four in 10 adults (37%) say they are not employed and are looking for jobs, including almost half (46%) of young citizens.
- Large majorities of citizens say the government is performing “fairly badly” or “very badly” on their top policy priorities, including nine out of 10 (91%) who see the government as failing to address unemployment.
Despite the promise of “jobs, jobs, jobs” when President Emmerson Mnangagwa took office in November 2017 (BBC, 2017a), paid employment has remained a critical challenge in Zimbabwe.
Officially, the unemployment rate was 21.8% in the third quarter of 2024 (Zimstat, 2024). Other estimates vary widely, based on how “unemployment” is defined (World Bank Group, 2025; Trading Economics, 2024; ZimFact, 2018; Pindula, 2024); the BBC (2017b) captured this public debate when it observed that unemployment estimates used in Zimbabwe range from 5% to 95%.
Less disputed is the staggering estimate that 80% of jobs in the country are in the informal sector, where work typically provides low pay and little security (Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, 2024). An estimated two-thirds of the population rely on the informal sector for income (World Economics, 2024).
The situation is particularly dire for Zimbabwe’s youth: More than 2.5 million Zimbabweans between the ages of 15 and 34 are not in employment, education, or training (Zimstat, 2022; Business Weekly, 2022).
To make matters worse, the minister of finance and economic development recently announced that the government is freezing public employment in all sectors (Marufu, 2024), and the government is extending the retirement age for civil servants and uniformed forces by five years (Chidhakwa, 2025; Chronicle, 2025). The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe called for nationwide protests against the retirement-age hike, arguing it will result in fewer job opportunities for younger workers and worsen the brain drain as educated Zimbabweans emigrate in search of jobs (Changadeya, 2024).
According to Afrobarometer’s latest survey, unemployment tops the list of problems that Zimbabweans want their government to address, followed by food insecurity and health. On job creation and other priorities, most citizens say the government is performing badly.
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