Labor market in Lesotho

The 2024 Labour Force Survey covered 1,510,701 people aged 15 and over in Lesotho. The labour force included 786,298 people, giving a labour-force participation rate of 52.0%. Employment reached 549,722 people, an employment-to-population rate of 36.4%, while 236,576 people were unemployed and 724,403 were outside the labour force. The standard unemployment rate was 30.1%. A broader labour-underutilization measure was 46.1%, because it also captures forms of inadequate use of available labour. Fieldwork took place from January to March 2024, and the results were launched on 4 July 2025 using international labour, occupation, industry and education classifications. Informal employment dominates the labour market. About 461,873 employed people, or 84.0%, worked informally, compared with 87,849 people, or 16.1%, in formal employment. Formal jobs had a higher share of workers with short-cycle tertiary education and bachelor's degrees, while informal employment was concentrated among people with primary or lower-secondary education. Trade-union density was 9.6%, so many workers operate outside regular formal employment structures and may have less predictable income, documentation or access to workplace protections. Women and young people face distinct barriers. Labour-force participation was 57.1% for men and 47.4% for women. Unemployment was 29.5% for men and 30.7% for women. Among people aged 15 to 24, unemployment reached 48.8%, and 49.8% were not in employment, education or training. Among people aged 15 to 35, 145,087 were unemployed and 203,747 were not in employment, education or training. Young people in employment were especially likely to work informally, with an informal-employment share of 98.1%. Among people who were not searching for work, the most frequently reported reasons were a lack of jobs in the area at 36.4%, family or household duties at 36.2% and family-use agriculture or fishing at 13.6%. Opportunities are distributed unevenly across Lesotho's ten districts and across urban, peri-urban and rural settlements. Maseru accounted for 30.0% of employed people, followed by Leribe at 15.8%, Berea at 14.6%, Mafeteng at 9.0%, Mohale's Hoek at 8.9%, Quthing at 5.1%, Botha Bothe at 4.8%, Mokhotlong at 4.6%, Thaba-Tseka at 4.2% and Qacha's Nek at 3.0%. Maseru had the highest formal-job share at 36.4%, while its informal-job share was 28.8%. Long-term unemployment was also uneven: 42.4% of unemployed people nationally had been unemployed for at least 24 months, rising to 56.2% in peri-urban areas and standing at 39.5% in rural areas. Agriculture, forestry and fishing accounted for 18.0% of employment. Household own-use production and household employers accounted for 16.2%, wholesale and retail trade together with motor-vehicle repair for 13.1%, manufacturing for 11.6%, construction for 8.9%, public administration and defence for 5.1%, education for 4.4%, accommodation and food services for 4.1%, health and social work for 3.7% and mining and quarrying for 3.4%. Urban employment was led by wholesale and retail at 16.7% and manufacturing at 15.1%. Rural employment was led by agriculture at 29.8% and household own-use activity at 20.0%. Textile and clothing production represented 87.4% of manufacturing employment in the fourth quarter of 2024, and women made up 76.3% of manufacturing workers. Occupation and education affect access to work. Elementary occupations represented 42.4% of employment, followed by service and sales work at 16.4%, crafts and trades at 12.8%, plant and machine operation at 10.7%, technician and associate-professional work at 5.2%, professional work at 5.0% and management at 2.3%. Elementary work made up 55.7% of rural employment and 28.5% of urban employment. Professionals represented 7.4% of urban employment but only 2.5% of rural employment. Among employed people, 4.5% had no schooling, 39.5% had primary education, 40.5% had lower-secondary education, 0.8% had upper-secondary education, 0.2% had post-secondary non-tertiary education, 8.7% had short-cycle tertiary education and 4.5% had a bachelor's degree or equivalent. Mean monthly earnings in paid jobs were M5,664.89. The average was M6,491.47 for men and M4,487.63 for women. Maseru had the highest reported district average at M6,531.11, followed by Berea at M6,494.00, while Mokhotlong had the lowest at M2,995.91. Average earnings were highest in state-owned enterprises at M11,238.89, followed by public institutions at M6,162.67, private employers at M5,144.33 and households at M1,589.43. Employees were paid monthly in 84.6% of cases, daily in 5.5% and hourly in 0.1%. A 5.5% minimum-wage increase was reported as effective from April 2025, but the current sector-specific amounts were not confirmed in the available official notice, so older 2013 schedules should not be treated as current. National Employment Services provides job-seeker registration, skills registration, the Graduate Apprenticeship Program, self-employment-group registration, NSTC services and work-permit functions. The Graduate Apprenticeship application requires a curriculum vitae, certificates and a National ID; the recorded processing time was one day. NSTC registration requires a Lengolo la Morena and proof of the highest education level from Standard or Grade 7 upward, with a recorded processing time of one day. The available evidence does not establish one general fee or processing time for every National Employment Services service. Job search remains largely network-based: 53.4% of unemployed people used relatives, friends or other contacts, 19.1% approached prospective employers, 0.2% used a website or job portal and 0.1% used a business permit or licence pathway. Private employment agencies require a licence, which may last for up to 12 months. The Labour Act 2024 sets ordinary working hours at a maximum of 45 hours per week. Overtime must be paid at least 1.25 times the normal wage, weekly rest must last at least 24 hours, and work on a public holiday is paid at twice the normal rate. The law recognises equal remuneration for work of equal value and prohibits discrimination on grounds including gender, disability, pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, age, nationality and migrant, domestic or part-time status. It also protects freedom of association and collective bargaining, including in the informal economy. Employment below age 15 is restricted, and work must not interfere with schooling. A foreign worker needs a valid work permit; the Director of National Employment Services must verify that no qualified Basotho worker is available in the labour-market database. The reported 2024 inbound work-permit terms were about two weeks, with a fee of M3,000 for two years plus a M500 application charge and a M350 card charge. Labour disputes can proceed through DDPR and then to the Labour Court. Labour migration is a major part of the wider labour market. The survey recorded 85,765 labour migrants, and 99.3% had South Africa as their destination. Among people leaving the country, 64.2% did so to work and 32.2% to look for paid work. Labour migrants mainly came from rural areas, representing 71.6% of male and 68.6% of female labour migrants. Remittances represented about 23% of gross domestic product in 2023. The labour market has also changed unevenly. A private-sector employment proxy fell by 32% between early 2019 and 2024, with substantial losses in textiles. The public sector remained the largest formal employer despite a hiring freeze. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project's second construction stage and other public investment created temporary demand, while skill mismatch, regulatory burdens, limited credit, infrastructure gaps and uncertainty around AGOA affected expansion. Textile and apparel production remained the largest private employer, with about 31,000 to 34,000 jobs in 2024, mostly held by women. Agriculture and food processing, non-textile manufacturing, mining, water and hydropower, construction, services and digital work are the main areas identified for diversification.