Unemployment in Gambia

Unemployment in The Gambia is measured in the 2025 Gambia Labour Force Survey as having no work during the reference week, having looked for a job or business during the previous four weeks and being available for work during the reference week or the following two weeks. The measured rate was 8.3% nationally, 7.5% for men and 9.2% for women. It was 8.9% in urban areas and 7.2% in rural areas, while the rate was 11.5% for people aged 15 to 35 and 4.4% for people aged 36 and above. Among unemployed people, 56.7% had been without work for less than six months and 28.3% for more than one year. Broader labour-underutilisation indicators were 26.7% and 34.2%. Discouraged jobseekers included in broader non-participation help explain why the narrow unemployment rate does not capture all unmet demand for work. Informal employment accounted for 81.0% of employment, while employees represented 30.9% of all employed people, so formal income protection covers only a minority of workers. The rate also varies sharply by local government area: Kuntaur recorded 19.6% unemployment and 24.5% among young people, while Kerewan recorded 3.5% and 4.1%. Banjul recorded 8.5% and 13.9%, Kanifing 9.1% and 12.7%, Brikama 9.1% and 13.0%, Mansakonko 8.4% and 11.9%, Janjanbureh 4.9% and 5.9%, and Basse 4.2% and 5.3%. The figures describe survey conditions and do not create an individual right to payment. The National Social Protection Policy for 2015–2025 excluded unemployment insurance, and the Employment Policy 2022–2026 treated unemployment insurance as a planned expansion rather than an operating benefit. The officially announced National Social Protection Policy for 2026–2035 does not yet provide verified operational unemployment-insurance rules. A person who loses work may instead rely on several separate routes. The Labour Act 2023 provides employment-termination, redundancy and dispute rights. SSHFC and National Provident Fund rules may provide specific withdrawals for eligible formal workers. The Family Strengthening Program under the Department of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare supports selected vulnerable people through the Social Registry, not through an unemployment benefit. The Department of Labour provides public employment services and maintains a registry connecting employers and jobseekers. The Department of Labour is at 110 Kairaba Avenue, Fajara, and lists opening hours as Monday to Thursday from 8:00 to 16:00 and Friday from 8:00 to 12:30. No registration fee or registration deadline is published. The law promotes registration of availability, but registration is not described as a general benefit application and no automatic payment follows. Keep the written employment contract, pay statements, termination letter, termination certificate and SSHFC membership or contribution records. The Labour Act 2023 requires a written employment contract and employment particulars no later than 14 working days after employment begins. Where a contract has no specified end date, notice depends on the payment period and length of service. Monthly-paid workers generally receive one month of notice. For bi-weekly pay, the period is two weeks below six years of service and one month at six years or more. For weekly pay, it is one week below two years, two weeks from two to under six years and one month at six years or more. For daily or hourly work, it is one day below six months, one week from six months to under two years, two weeks from two to under six years and two months at six years or more. A fixed-term contract normally ends on its stated date without notice; early termination requires at least 14 days of notice. An employer may pay remuneration and other benefits instead of notice. Final pay is due no later than the end of the notice period, or on the next working day when no notice applies, and a termination certificate must be supplied on request. Redundancy covers economic, organisational, climatic and technical reasons, including mechanisation or automation. The employer must consult, consider alternatives and seek possible re-engagement. An alternative is not suitable where the worker lacks the qualifications or where the work is substantially worse or substantially lower paid. The Act generally provides six months' notice and an allowance equal to six months of regular remuneration, with exceptions including an employer with five or fewer employees. National Provident Fund rules describe an optional redundancy- or liquidation-related withdrawal benefit after at least five years of scheme membership and three months without work. The amount depends on age: 25% of the account for ages 25 to 31, 32% for 32 to 38, 37% for 39 to 44, 50% for 45 to 54 and 60% for 55 to 59. A separate NPF Withdrawal Benefit requires at least five years or 60 months of contributions and being out of employment. It provides 70% of the account at ages 45 to 54 and 85% at ages 55 to 59, subject to a six-month cooling-off period for ages 45 to 54 or three months for ages 55 to 59. Taking up employment ends the withdrawal entitlement. Applications require the employer's termination letter, claim form, passport photograph, national identity document and an affidavit of unemployment. These benefits are generally lump sums, not monthly unemployment payments, and no official processing time or fee is published. A worker who believes a dismissal was unlawful can complain within six months to the Commissioner or a trade union. The Commissioner aims to settle the matter within one month; unresolved cases can proceed to the Industrial Tribunal, which may order reinstatement, re-engagement or compensation. Termination or wage disputes can also be taken to the Department of Labour for complaint handling or mediation. No general duty to report as unemployed has been verified. The Family Strengthening Program uses vulnerability-based selection rather than unemployment status alone. Its pilot covered 2,000 people and identified categories including people with disabilities, people aged 70 or above without a pension, orphans below age 10 and female-headed households. The process can include listing, community validation, a home visit, a ten-day grievance period, enrolment and monthly cash transfers. Access is regional and district based and capacity is limited. Re-entry usually combines Department of Labour job matching, employer or community-based searching and, in practice, informal self-employment. Training may support re-entry, but it is not itself an unemployment payment. The most exposed groups include young people, women, rural workers, informal workers and people affected by redundancy.