10 048+ Graduates Added to the Employment Queue

Oscar J Jeke

Zim Now Reporter

The red gowns and jubilant ululations that filled the air at Chinhoyi University of Technology this week masked a sobering reality: for many of the 3 130 graduates capped by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the road ahead leads not to stable jobs, but to Zimbabwe’s ever-lengthening unemployment queue.

Just days earlier, the University of Zimbabwe capped 6 918 graduates, bringing the tally of newly qualified professionals from only two institutions to more than 10 048 in the space of weeks. With graduation season still ongoing at other state universities, teacher training colleges, and polytechnics, the true figure of job seekers entering the market this year is set to be far higher.

These proud new graduates join a labour market already buckling under the weight of crisis. According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, the official unemployment rate for people aged 16 and older stood at 21.8% in the third quarter of 2024, up from 20.5% earlier in the year. International institutions such as the World Bank and the International Labour Organization give a lower figure of 8.55%, but that statistic only accounts for those in the formal sector actively seeking work. The gulf between the two figures reflects the scale of Zimbabwe’s informal economy, where an estimated 85.5% of all employed persons are surviving through street vending, artisanal mining, small-scale farming, or other low-wage informal activities.

For graduates entering the job market, the promise of a university degree has dimmed. The reality is that formal jobs are scarce, wages are low, and most sectors are downsizing or closing altogether. Even professional fields once considered secure, such as teaching and nursing, have been frozen under government austerity measures, while the extension of the civil service retirement age has further blocked openings for young professionals.

The burden is most pronounced among the youth. A 2024 ZIMSTAT survey revealed that unemployment among the 15–24 age group was 37.7% in the first quarter. Even more concerning, over 56% of youths aged 15–35 in some provinces are “NEET”, not in employment, education, or training. That translates into millions of young people with nowhere to turn, and more than 1.4 million unemployed youths nationwide, according to the United Nations.

United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Edward Kallon described the situation as “disturbing,” particularly for young people living with disabilities who face double exclusion due to stigma and inaccessible environments. “With youth making up over 67% of Zimbabwe’s population, the country’s future depends on unlocking their potential,” Kallon said at the launch of the United for Youth Inclusion programme. “They do not lack ability; they lack access to networks, platforms, and opportunities.”

The mismatch between Zimbabwe’s educational system and its economic reality is glaring. Graduation ceremonies showcase the country’s intellectual capital, thousands of new doctors, engineers, lawyers, and teachers — yet the economy cannot absorb them. Instead, many graduates are forced into informal vending, cross-border trading, or migration, swelling the diaspora.

Observers have long linked this structural unemployment to social problems, most notably the drug and substance abuse crisis spreading through Zimbabwe’s urban and rural communities. Idleness, despair, and a lack of prospects have left young people vulnerable to addiction, further weakening the country’s human capital base.

This was not the vision sold to citizens in 2018, when President Mnangagwa promised the creation of 2.2 million jobs in his election manifesto. Seven years later, that promise remains largely unfulfilled. Surveys show overwhelming public dissatisfaction: the 2025 Afrobarometer found that 91% of Zimbabweans believe the government is failing to address unemployment.

The graduation of over 10 000 students from just two universities in one month highlights the scale of the problem. By year’s end, tens of thousands more from other state institutions will be added to the tally. With no meaningful job creation programme in place, they too will join the ranks of the unemployed or underemployed.

The irony of #Education5.0, government’s flagship higher education reform aimed at producing “innovators and employers,” is that the system continues to churn out graduates faster than the economy can absorb them. For now, these bright young men and women, capped and celebrated, step proudly off the graduation stage, only to find themselves walking straight into a stagnant labour market, joining the swelling employment queue.