EDITORIAL COMMENT: Changes in household occupation shows growth of modern economy

As countries develop in the modern world, pushing up the wealth they create and distribute and seeing ever higher incomes for the average person, the percentage of the population engaged in farming tends to fall, even while farm output increases.

This trend is mostly driven by the increasing need for labor in mining, industry, and services, which changes nearly every nation from one where farmers made up the bulk of the population to one where they now make up a shrinking minority.

Typically, this significant shift coincides with a period of relatively rapid population growth, meaning that while the total number of farms stays roughly the same, each one is supporting and employing fewer people as mechanization lowers labor requirements while raising output, productivity, and income.

This process is currently underway in Zimbabwe, and the Second Republic's significant reforms are hastening the changes.

The number of Zimbabwean households who depend on farming as their main source of income has decreased to slightly under 30%, according to the most recent ZimStat sampling from the 10th round of the Rapid Poverty Income, Consumption and Expenditure Survey, which was carried out in August of last year.

ZimStat is talking about homes, not individuals, and since many agricultural households have several generations in them, they are typically larger than nuclear urban households or the young-owned firms that are popping up all over the place these days.

Thus, the population's reliance on farming will account for somewhere over 30% of the total.

As a result, the farming industry continues to employ the majority of Zimbabweans, but other industries are creating more jobs per household, which is both typical and a significant sign of the country's economy's expansion. The percentage of homes where a person has a wage—that is, a somewhat formal job—has increased rapidly, accounting for 22% of all household income.

Under the Second Republic, that industry is growing very quickly, with new factories and mines opening up regularly and existing enterprises expanding and adding new workers.

As long as current trends persist, the majority of households' primary source of income will no longer be farming but rather wage employment; it is important to emphasize that this transition will occur as long as agriculture keeps expanding. In actuality, a large portion of the newly created jobs will depend on the farmers' increasing production of raw materials and their delivery to industry.

However, the ratio of wage employment to farming is just slightly greater than half of all households. Thirteen percent of households are currently supported by non-farm businesses, and this is the group that is most likely to increase fastest.

These are the companies and ventures where people start working for themselves, utilizing their own abilities to launch their own firm instead of looking for employment elsewhere.

Naturally, the majority of self-employment remains in the farming industry, but it is a significant advancement that so many more people are now using the improved preparation that recent educational advancements and modifications have provided, together with increased government backing.

Even though these two types of self-employment together account for over 40% of all households, we anticipate that both the percentage of these two sectors combined will continue to rise and that the ratio between them will continue to skew in favor of non-farm self-employment.

Note that not all self-employment that isn't farming occurs in cities. Many are rural, and to name just one, as farmers use the money they earn from tobacco, cotton, and grain to build nicer homes, there has been a rise in the amount of work for competent rural builders.

The government is determined to commercialize even the tiniest farms and to establish a network of rural industries and businesses, thus this tendency is expected to continue.

People have a propensity to believe that working for a company is a better option than working for themselves, yet the money from employment has restrictions, whereas the income of someone with a truly great concept is not subject to the same restrictions.

In general, the self-employed encompass a vast spectrum of individuals, ranging from those barely making ends meet to the wealthiest members of society, and a vast spectrum in between.

Small and medium-sized family enterprises account for a large portion of the national income and offer employment for a large number of individuals in most nations.

A crucial component of the Second Republic's intended growth process is the distribution of the nation's wealth, which is aided by these family farms and non-farming enterprises.

While it is possible to establish a nation where a small minority of people control and benefit from the majority of the income—as was the case in the society established by the colonial regimes—it is equally crucial to ensure that the majority advances toward greater prosperity.

The best method to grow the economy and make sure that "no one is left behind" is to do this, as it actually generates the markets and production that an expanding economy needs.

The Zimbabwean economy is undergoing a significant transition, which ZimStat is now able to document. The image, in many respects, indicates that the nation is growing faster and that a greater variety of human occupation and family support are emerging.