Unemployment is not decreasing in Senegal. The measures taken by the State have not yet had the expected effects. The latest survey, published by Ansd on employment in the fourth quarter of 2021, estimates the unemployment rate at 24.1%, an increase of 7.8 percentage points compared to 2020.
Par Dieynaba Kane – Unemployment remains a scourge in Senegal. Despite the measures taken by the State to find a solution to this problem, the unemployment rate is still on the rise. In the National Employment Survey for the fourth quarter of 2021, “the unemployment rate is estimated at 24.1%, up 7.8 percentage points from the last quarter of 2020”. The document from the National Agency for Statistics and Demography (Ansd) informs that “unemployment is higher in rural areas, where the rate is estimated at 29.8% once morest 19.1% in urban areas”. The authors of this survey point out that “unemployment affects women more (35.8%) than men (13.0%)”. The study, which also looked at the level of activity, showed that “more than half (55.8%) of the population of working age (15 years or more) participated in the labor market in the fourth quarter of 2021”. However, it was found that “the participation rate decreased by 2.1 percentage points compared to the same period in 2020”.
The survey also reveals that it “varies according to place of residence, with a level of 57.2% in urban areas once morest 54.3% in rural areas”. The authors of the survey inform that the activity rate “is higher among men (64.5% once morest 48.8% for women)”. Regarding the “employment rate, which measures the share of people in employment among people of working age”, it is “39.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021, down 4.0 points of percentage compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, when it was estimated at 43.3%”. According to the Ansd document, “it is higher in urban areas than in rural areas, with respective rates of 45.0% and 33.0%”. It has been noted that “women, who constitute more than half of the working-age population, have a lower level of employment than men”. Indeed, explain the authors of the survey, “53.0% of men of working age have a job, once morest 28.2% for women”. What regarding salaried employment? According to Ansd, “it concerns 39.4% of the working population and varies according to gender and place of residence”. Thus, the survey reveals that “the share of salaried employment among men is 46.1% once morest 29.4% among women”. It also shows that “access to salaried employment is more accentuated in urban areas, with a rate of 48.5%, than in rural areas (25.9%)”. As for access to salaried employment, it “remains stable compared to 2020 (39.3%)”. The survey conducted by Ansd also showed that caregivers “constituted 5.5% of the registered workforce in the last quarter of 2021, a drop of 3 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, where their proportion was estimated at 8.5%”. In addition, it was noted that “the proportion of family aids remains higher in rural areas, where 9.3% of the workforce is made up of family aids once morest 2.2% in urban areas. They are encountered more in women (6.3%) than in men (4.7%)”.
dkane@lequotidien.sn
