The latest figures from the government data collecting agency, Statistics Botswana, show that during the second quarter of last year, the number of work permits increased by 7 percent.
The increase was between March and June 2020, with the number of work permit holders increasing from 4, 321 to 4,640 during the period.
The majority of the permit holders were registered in the agricultural sector at 26.1 percent followed by the education sector at 16.4 percent.
According to the information, the largest group of work permit holders was the age group of 40-44 with 18.2 percent followed by 45-49 and 35-39 at 16.8 and 16.2 percent respectively.
Out of the total number of the work permit holders as at the end of June last year, a majority of them were for employees at 4, 017 or 87.5 percent of the total number while 623 or 12.5 percent were for self-employed.
Employee work permit holders consist of those holding new work permits and those whose work permits have been renewed and according to the latest information, 3,074 were new employee work permit holders while 943 held renewals.
It is reported that in both categories males comprised a higher proportion of work permit holders.
For the new work permit holders, males accounted for 56.9 percent of the total employee work permit holders and 19.6 percent for females while for the renewed ones, males accounted for 16.8 percent and females 6.7 percent.
In terms of countries of origin for permit holders, the majority of the work permit holders were from Zimbabwe at 2,214 persons or 47.7 percent, followed by South Africa at 648 persons or 14.0 percent while those categorized as Other Africa accounted for 436 persons or 9.4 percent.
A o aga ba tseele ba ga tina ditiro mme, 3074 new jobs nne re seo