The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has defended its latest labour survey statistics, saying they meet International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards.
This comes after several economists criticised the findings of the 2023 Labour Force report released in Windhoek on Wednesday.
The NSA announced that Namibia’s overall unemployment rate is 37%, with youth unemployment at 45%.
Cirrus Capital data and analytics head Tannan Groenewald, however, says the unemployment rate is likely over 50%, and that the NSA is downplaying these figures.
Experts have also questioned the NSA’s definition of unemployment.
In a press statement released on Friday, statistician general Alex Shimuafeni said the labour force report’s statistics are in line with the ILO’s standards and definitions.
“The data therefore is in line with the requirements of the Statistics Act, which stipulates that statistics must be a relevant, accurate and reliable source for planning,” Shimuafeni said.
He said the unemployment rate of 36.9% is Namibia’s official unemployment figure as per the ILO standards based on the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS).
“That is, when the ILO, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Southern African Development Community,
African Union or any other organisation requests the official unemployment rate of Namibia, the figure of 36.9% will be provided,” he said.
Shimuafeni said the data is correct and can be used.
“Definitions of unemployment are not set by the NSA or by a particular single country or any individual national statistics office, but by the ICLS, which normally passes a resolution to adopt a specific definition of unemployment,” he said.
In Namibia’s case, the definitions that were used during the last two labour force studies (in 2018 and 2023, respectively) are different as they are based on different ICLS resolutions.
“That is, for 2018, the definition of that time (broad definition of unemployment) was based on the 13th ICLS, while the
definition of 2023 (strict definition of unemployment) was based on the 19th ICLS.
“Therefore, the unemployment definition of the day is always applicable,” he said.
Shimuafeni said the broad and strict definitions of unemployment are used to measure the labour market more inclusively or restrictively.
“The broad definition includes individuals within the working age population (15 years and above) who are without work, or are available for work but have not actively sought employment during the reference period.
“The strict definition includes individuals within the working age population who are without work, available for work, and actively searching for employment during the reference period,” he said.
The statistician general said the unemployment definition for the 2018 survey and that of the 2023 survey differ, “but that does not change the official unemployment rates of these two studies, which were 33.4 % in 2018 and 36.9% in 2023”.
Shimuafeni said with regards to insinuations that the NSA has “cooked” or “flawed” the figures, “the NSA would like to make it categorically clear that figures can be worked back to verify how these percentages were arrived at”.
“Anyone who needs to participate in such exercise is welcome to contact the NSA. In addition, the NSA has also worked together with the ILO in ensuring that the adopted unemployment definition is applied correctly,” he said.
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