The rate of unemployment among Rwandans dropped to 14.5 per cent in February this year, down from 16 per cent in February 2018, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda.

Compared to February 2017, the jobless rate of February 2019 is 2.2 percentage points lower.

"Unemployment is declining, which is an indication that the economy is improving,” Yusuf Murangwa, the Director General of the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) told The New Timeson Tuesday.

He explained that in 2017 the economy was battered by various challenges including drought that hit the agriculture sector while construction activities reduced, hence increasing the number of jobless.

Among sectors that have contributed to the drop in jobless rate, he stated, is improvement in agriculture, hotels and restaurants, construction and trade including wholesale and retail sale.

Overall all the sectors improved, he explained, referring to the 2019 improvement in the outlook of the job market.

According to the latest survey by NISR, among more than the 6.9 million Rwandans who were 16 years old and above last year, 54.2 per cent of them were in the labour force, either employed or unemployed.

At 17.1 per cent, the unemployment rate is still higher among women than in men where it is 13.5 per cent. The jobless rate is more rampart among the youth where it is 18.7 per cent.

Women accounted for close to 44.8 per cent of the labour force, mostly engaged as crop farm labourers, domestic cleaners and helpers, stall and market salespersons, and shopkeepers.

Among employed persons with managerial positions, 34.1 per cent were women, the survey showed.

Furthermore unemployment is higher in urban areas than in the rural areas, according to NISR. 

editor@newtimesrwanda.com