Editing Economy of Namibia (section)

==Labour==
While many Namibians are economically active in one form or another, the bulk of this activity is in the informal sector, primarily subsistence agriculture. A large number of Namibians seeking jobs in the formal sector are held back due to a lack of necessary skills or training. The government is aggressively pursuing education reform to overcome this problem.

The country's unemployment rate was 33.4% in 2018, with a labour force of 1,090,153. However, Namibia has a high percentage of skilled labour relative to SADC countries and have relatively low unemployment rates for skilled workers. To fight high unemployment, particularly amongst the youth, the government approved the introduction of an Internship Tax Incentive Programme aimed at incentivising employers to enroll more interns by providing an additional corporate tax deduction. The total financial implication for the Government is estimated at N$126 million.

The 2018 Namibia Labour Force Survey indicates that 99,536 people within the working age population had tertiary education of any level (6.6% of the working age population), while 21,922 (1.5% of the working age population) of these had postgraduate education.
{| class="wikitable"
! Age group
! No education
! Primary
! Junior secondary
! Senior secondary
! Technical/vocational certificate or diploma
! Currently in year 1, 2 or 3 of tertiary education
! University certificate, diploma or degree
! Postgraduate certificate, diploma or degree
|-
|15-19
|10,695
|89,696
|112,104
|23,588
|508
|1,558
|299
|44
|-
|20-24
|19,090
|37,177
|99,661
|58,909
|6,185
|9,498
|6,019
|212
|-
|25-29
|13,757
|31,278
|81,909
|53,019
|7,263
|9,035
|16,294
|3,840
|-
|30-34
|13,753
|25,656
|73,216
|39,969
|4,886
|3,161
|15,520
|2,764
|-
|35-39
|13,030
|24,926
|55,816
|30,999
|3,497
|2,582
|10,831
|3,290
|-
|40-44
|16,042
|24,602
|38,462
|26,786
|3,508
|1,605
|7,284
|2,603
|-
|45-49
|12,509
|24,743
|27,780
|18,883
|1,180
|896
|6,752
|2,663
|-
|50-54
|12,594
|22,360
|20,641
|10,810
|891
|582
|5,529
|2,522
|-
|55-59
|12,754
|19,927
|13,654
|5,487
|825
|848
|4,064
|1,712
|-
|60-64
|13,832
|14,578
|8,006
|2,764
|584
|459
|2,135
|1,570
|-
|65+
|49,043
|31,213
|10,033
|3,415
|775
|389
|2,886
|702
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''187,100'''
|'''346,157'''
|'''541,281'''
|'''274,628'''
|'''30,101'''
|'''30,612'''
|'''77,615'''
|'''21,922'''
|}
The table below shows the 2018 Namibia Labour Force Survey employment statistics by education. Employment rates in Namibia generally increase with education status. A high school education typically ensures greater employment rates than those with no education or those with primary or junior secondary education as their highest achievement.

Those currently in their first, second or third year of higher education have the lowest employment rates, although it is not as common for students to actively pursue work given their attention on education. Namibians with a university certificate, diploma or degree have a significantly higher employment rate at 76.4%, while postgraduate education holders are most likely to be employed with an employment rate of 83.8% in 2018.
{| class="wikitable"
|
|No education
|Primary
|Junior secondary
|Senior secondary
|Technical/vocational certificate or diploma
|Currently in year 1, 2 or 3 of tertiary education
|University certificate, diploma or degree
|Postgraduate certificate, diploma or degree
|-
|Total
|187,100
|346,157
|541,281
|274,628
|30,101
|30,612
|77,615
|21,922
|-
|Employed
|85,352
|146,089
|229,259
|146,874
|16,292
|12,595
|59,328
|18,378
|-
|'''% Employed'''
|'''45.6%'''
|'''42.2%'''
|'''42.4%'''
|'''53.5%'''
|'''54.1%'''
|'''41.1%'''
|'''76.4%'''
|'''83.8%'''
|}
Namibians in the [[informal sector]] as well as in low-paid jobs like homemakers, gardeners or factory workers are unlikely to be covered by [[medical aid]] or a [[pension fund]]. All in all only a quarter or the working population have medical aid, and about half have a pension fund.<ref>{{cite news | title=Social Security pension, medical funds long way off | last=Kaira | first=Chamwe | newspaper=[[The Namibian]] | date= 27 May 2016 | page=19 | url=http://www.namibian.com.na/Social-Security-pension-medical-funds-long-way-off/41006/read}}</ref>

Namibia's largest trade union federation, the [[National Union of Namibian Workers]] (NUNW) represents workers organised into seven affiliated trade unions. NUNW maintains a close affiliation with the ruling [[SWAPO]] party.