The latest findings in the Gambia Labour Force Survey 2025, one of flagship statistical exercises conducted by the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBOS) has revealed that the country’s labour market is undergoing meaningful change in terms of increased working-age population and labour force expansion.
While the report highlights commendable progress, it also draws attention to areas requiring urgent and sustained action, revealing that the unemployment rate has seen a modest increase to 8.3 percent nationally, with youth unemployment reaching 11.5 %.
Thus, this calls the urgent need to create more inclusive and sustainable jobs for young people.
Fabba Jammeh, director of Employment at The Gambia’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MOTIE) made this disclosure on behalf of the permanent secretary at the same Ministry at the launch of the 2025 Gambia Labour Force Survey findings held on Tuesday at Metzy Residence Hotel.
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Jammeh highlighted that going by the report, working-age population (persons aged 15 and older) increased from approximately 1.4 million in the 2022 and 2023 GNLFS to 1.43 million in the current GNLFS.
“Correspondently, the labour expanded by 10.8 from 609, 410 to 675,470 individuals. This growth was driven by a notable in the labour force participation rate from 43.6 percent to 47.1 percent.
He also made reference that informal employment remains widespread, accounting for 81.0 percent of total employment, which reinforces the urgent need for expanding formal job opportunities and strengthening labour protections.
MoTIE director of Employment also revealed that labour underutilization (LU3) remains a critical area for policy action at 26.7 percent particularly among women34.3 percent and rural residents’ 33.8 percent.
These figures, he said, reflect structural challenges that require targeted, gender responsive and location-sensitive interventions.
“Of particular concern is the declining labour force participation among persons with disabilities, which fell from 32.8 to 20.1 percent,” he said, adding that this trend underscores the importance of investing in inclusive employment policies and ensuring that no segment of our population is left behind.”
For his part, Nyakassi M.B. Bojang, statistician general, Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS), explained that the survey represents one of their flagship statistical exercises and provides a critical lens through which they understand the structure and functioning of the Gambian labour market.
“It is an exercise that requires to be conducted more frequently and with the help of WB, we are heading in that direction. We intend to conduct a bi-annual LFS in 2026 and starting 2027, we will conduct the quarterly LFS. This depends on our state of preparedness as we require to have the right capacity in the Labour Statistics Unit in order to perform this exercise as required.”
The Statistician General maintained that as the National Statistics Office, their role is to provide credible, timely, and policy-relevant data.
“And I can proudly say that this edition of the Labour Force Survey reflects just that, produced through rigorous methodology, in line with ILO international standards, and with strong coordination across our national statistical system.”
Also speaking, Moritz Meyer, senior economist in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice of the World Bank, described the event as another important milestone for the Gambia, adding it will be imperative to inform evidence-based and data-driven decision-making.
The launch witnessed detailed presentation on some of the survey’s key findings as well as other recommendations.
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