For the third quarter of 2024, the extended unemployment rate in Senegal reached 20.3%, according to the National Employment Survey in Senegal (ENES) carried out by the National Agency for Statistics and Development. Demography (ANSD) based in Dakar.
Compared to the third quarter of 2023 when it stood at 19.5%, the expanded unemployment rate increased by 0.8 percentage points. <> underlined the ANSD. For the purposes of the ILO, the unemployed include all persons of working age who, during the reference period, were without work, available for work in a two-week period and looked for work over the four-week period. preceding the collection date. However, this definition proves restrictive for Senegal given the labor market which is poorly structured for the search for work. For this purpose, unemployed people, who are available, but are not looking for work for reasons deemed beyond their control, are counted among the unemployed and thus taken into account in determining the level of unemployment in the country.
According to the ANSD, the unemployment rate in the broad sense is higher in rural areas (21.9% compared to 19.2% in urban areas). Depending on gender, unemployment affects women (32.9%) more than men (11.8%).
In the third quarter of 2024, 58.3% of people of working age (15 years or older) participated in the labor market. This level of activity is slightly higher in rural areas where it stood at 58.8% compared to 58.0% in urban areas. Depending on gender, it is higher among men than among women with respective rates of 68.7% and 47.7%. Year-on-year, the ANSD notes that the level of participation has fallen by 3.1 percentage points compared to the same period in 2023.
For the quarter under review, the employment rate (which measures the share of people in employment among those of working age) stood at 42.8%. It decreased by 1.6 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2023 when it was estimated at 44.4%. The level of employment is higher in urban areas than in rural areas, with respective rates of 45.7% and 38.3%. In addition, the employment rate is almost twice as high among men (56.4% compared to 28.8% among women).
Regarding salaried employment, the ANSD reports that its share in total employment stood at 38.9% during the quarter under review. This proportion increased by 1.6 percentage points compared to the same period of 2023 (37.3%). The share of salaried employment varies by gender and area of residence. Among men, it is estimated at 43.6% compared to 29.5% for women. Access to paid employment is significantly greater in urban areas (48.9%) than in rural areas (20.6%).
On another note, the ANSD survey revealed that during the period under review, family helpers represented 6.3% of the workforce (or active population) compared to 8.2% in the corresponding quarter. from the previous year, a drop of 1.9 percentage points. Their share is greater in rural areas (12.9% of the workforce compared to 1.9% in urban areas). Depending on gender, the proportions are almost in the same order of magnitude (6.5% for women compared to 6.2% for men).
