Zambia had an estimated 523,751 unemployed people in 2025, while millions of others remained outside the labour force, according to the latest figures released by the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZAMSTAT).
The 2025 Labour Force Survey, together with the 2024 Employment Earnings Inquiry, shows that Zambia’s working-age population, comprising people aged 15 years and above, stood at approximately 12.8 million.
ZAMSTAT Statistician General Shila Mudenda said about 5.28 million people were in the labour force, of whom an estimated 4.76 million were employed, while 523,751 were unemployed.
Mudenda said the latest findings showed improvements in key labour market indicators, with the national labour force participation rate increasing from 38 per cent in 2024 to 41.2 per cent in 2025.
She said the employment-to-population ratio also rose from 33.1 per cent to 37.1 per cent, while the unemployment rate declined from 12.9 per cent to 9.9 per cent over the same period.
“The developments are encouraging. They must be considered alongside other labour market indicators to give us a fuller picture of the employment situation,” she said.
Despite the improvements, Mudenda said youth unemployment remained a major national concern, particularly given the number of young people who were neither employed nor participating in education or training.
According to the survey, the unemployment rate among people aged between 15 and 24 years stood at 23.9 per cent, while the rate among Zambia’s broader youth population, defined as those aged between 15 and 35 years, was 14.2 per cent.
Mudenda said approximately 2.09 million young people aged between 15 and 24 years were not in employment, education or training, highlighting the need to strengthen the links between education, vocational training, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities.
“Approximately 2.09 million young people aged 15 to 24 years were not in employment, education or training. This underlines the need to strengthen the links between education, vocational training, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities,” she said.
She said the figures pointed to the importance of equipping young people with practical skills that respond to labour market demands and expanding opportunities for them to establish businesses or secure meaningful employment.
The survey also highlighted the continued importance of the informal economy in providing livelihoods for millions of Zambians.
Mudenda said approximately 3.02 million people were engaged in informal employment, accounting for 63.4 per cent of total employment.
She said the findings demonstrated the need to support enterprise development, improve workers’ skills, expand access to productive opportunities and promote practical pathways towards formalisation.
According to Mudenda, interventions should recognise the contribution of informal businesses to the economy while helping them improve productivity, strengthen job security and increase workers’ access to social protection.
“Such interventions should recognise the contributions of informal enterprises while improving workers’ productivity, job security and access to social protection,” she said.
Mudenda added that employment policy should focus not only on creating jobs but also on promoting productive employment, fair remuneration and decent working conditions.
She said the survey results showed positive developments in labour force participation, employment and unemployment, while also drawing attention to persistent challenges involving youth unemployment, informal work, labour underutilisation and disparities in earnings.
“The 2025 Labour Force Survey results show positive development in labour force participation, employment and unemployment.
At the same time, they draw attention to continuing challenges in youth unemployment, informality, labour underutilisation and disparities in earnings,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Labour and Social Security Permanent Secretary Zechariah Luhanga urged government ministries, employers, workers’ organisations and training institutions to use the report to guide their planning, dialogue and capacity-building programmes.
Luhanga said the findings provided an important evidence base for developing practical interventions to improve employment outcomes and promote decent work.
“The shared responsibility is to turn reliable evidence into better employment decisions and measurable improvements in decent work,” he said.
The latest figures underline the importance of distinguishing between unemployment and the broader challenge of economic inactivity.
Although Zambia’s working-age population stood at 12.8 million, only approximately 5.28 million people were participating in the labour force.
Those outside the labour force are not automatically classified as unemployed because they may not be actively seeking work or available to take up employment under the applicable statistical definition.
The survey therefore places the number of unemployed people at 523,751, rather than millions of people outside the labour force being classified as jobless.
While the decline in the unemployment rate represents progress, the high proportion of young people outside employment, education and training, alongside the dominance of informal employment, highlights the need for sustained efforts to expand productive opportunities and improve the quality and security of jobs across the country.
