Income diversification before and after economic shocks: evidence from urban and rural Zimbabwe

Figures & data

Table 1: Percentage distribution of households in different income-generating activities¹

					Urban
	All		Rural		All		Bulawayo		Harare		Secondary cities
Income sources	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995
Observations	13 903	17 087*	9 342	9 910*	4 561	7 177*	646	1 765*	1 153	2 042*	2 762	3 370*
Wage employment	55	61*	40	44*	86	85*	83	85*	92	89*	84	82*
1. Private formal	30	30*	24	24*	42	39*	39	37*	54	41*	39	39*
2. Private informal	8	15*	4	8*	16	25*	15	28*	21	30*	13	21*
3. Government	10	9*	6	4*	18	16*	13	11*	14	16*	20	18*
4. Parastatal	4	2*	1	1*	9	5*	14	5*	4	4*	11	5*
5. Farming	3	2*	5	4*	0	0*	0	0*	0	0*	1	1*
6. Others	5	9*	5	6*	4	12*	4	17*	4	11*	5	11*
Own business (7)	11	11*	11	6*	10	17*	7	19*	9	14*	11	18*
Agriculture (8–12)	71	66*	86	84*	40	41*	32	42*	19	22*	51	52*
8. Grain crop	38	20*	55	33*	3	3*	0	2*	1	2*	4	3*
9. Industrial crop	15	8*	23	14*	1	1*	0	0*	0	0*	1	1*
10. Livestock	38	23*	54	38*	5	2*	2	1*	2	1*	6	2*
11. Fruit and vegetables	64	61*	76	73*	38	39*	31	42*	17	20*	49	49*
12. Other agriculture	22	18*	30	29*	5	3*	2	0*	4	2*	6	5*
Non-labour (13–14)	62	42*	69	46*	47	36*	44	34*	33	33*	54	38*
13. Remittances	60	39*	69	46*	43	29*	37	25*	25	23*	52	34*
14. Property income	3	5*	1	0*	8	11*	12	15*	10	15*	5	7*
Note: *indicates a significant difference between the 1990 and 1995 values at the 10% level of significance or lower, using a paired t-test.
^1The percentages may not sum to 100% as most households have more than one source of income.
Source: author's calculations using ICES 1990/91 and 1995/96.

Table 2: Percentage contributions of different income-generating activities to total income

					Urban
	All		Rural		All		Bulawayo		Harare		Secondary cities
Income sources	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995
Observations	13 903	17 087*	9 342	9 910*	4 561	7 177*	646*	1 765*	1 153	2 042*	2 762	3 370*
Wage employment	47	51*	32	36*	79	75*	77*	73*	86	79*	77	73*
1. Private formal	27	28*	21	22*	39	38*	39*	38*	49	39*	35	37*
2. Private informal	5	9*	2	5*	12	12*	11*	13*	18	16*	10	9*
3. Government	9	7*	5	4*	18	16*	14*	12*	14	16*	20	17*
4. Parastatal	3	2*	1	1*	9	4*	13*	5*	4	4*	10	4*
5. Farming	1	1*	2	2*	0	0*	0*	0*	0	0*	0	1*
6. Others	1	3*	1	2*	1	4*	1*	6*	1	4*	1	4*
Own business	4	5*	4	3*	6	8*	4*	8*	6	7*	6	8*
Agriculture	29	27*	42	40*	3	4*	3*	3*	1	2*	3	4*
8. Grain crop	8	5*	12	9*	0	0*	0*	0*	0	0*	0	0*
9. Industrial crop	2	1*	2	2*	0	0*	0*	0*	0	0*	0	0*
10. Fruit and vegetables	9	12*	13	19*	1	2*	2*	2*	0	1*	2	3*
11. Livestock	8	6*	12	10*	0	0*	0*	0*	0	0*	0	0*
12. Other agriculture	2	3*	3	4*	0	1*	0*	0*	0	1*	0	1*
Non-labour	20	17*	22	20*	13	14*	16*	16*	7	12*	14	14*
13. Remittances	19	16*	23	20*	11	11*	12*	12*	5	8*	13	12*
14. Property income	1	1*	0	0*	2	3*	4*	4*	2	4*	1	2*
Total	100	100*	100	100*	100	100*	100*	100*	100	100*	100	100*
Overall income per capita (1990 $Z)^1	186	140*	104	78*	354	227*	378*	212*	340	237*	354	228*
Note: *indicates a significant difference between the 1990 and 1995 values at the 10% level of significance or lower.
^1All monetary variables are per capita and normalized to real terms in July 1990 Zimbabwe dollars, using a consumer price index which takes into account variations in survey months and regions.
Source: author's calculations using ICES 1990/91 and 1995/96 using a paired t-test.

Table 3: Own consumption from agriculture, and remittances in cash and kind

					Urban
	All		Rural		All		Bulawayo		Harare		Secondary cities
Income source	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995
Percentage distribution of households
Agriculture	71	66*	86	84*	40	41*	32	42*	19	22*	51	52*
Own consumption	70	65*	85	83*	39	40*	32	42*	17	21*	50	51*
Remittances received	60	39*	69	46*	43	29*	37	25*	25	23*	52	34*
Received in cash	31	28*	35	33*	21	21*	17	19*	15	20*	24	23*
Received in kind	49	17*	58	22*	31	11*	24	8*	16	4*	40	16*
Remittances given	34	27*	29	20*	44	37*	33	28*	50	39*	44	41*
Given in cash	25	21*	20	16*	36	29*	21	19*	45	33*	35	33*
Given in kind	18	13*	16	8*	21	19*	17	17*	17	17*	24	21*
Percentage contributions to total income
Agriculture	29	27*	42	40*	3	4*	3	3*	1	2*	3	4*
Own consumption	22	24*	32	39*	2	3*	2	2*	1	1*	2	4*
Remittances received	19	16*	23	20*	10	11*	12	12*	5	8*	12	12*
Received in cash	11	13*	13	15*	8	10*	9	11*	4	7*	9	10*
Received in kind	8	3*	10	5*	3	1*	3	1*	2	1*	4	2*
Remittances given	5	5*	4	3*	8	7*	4	5*	10	7*	8	8*
Given in cash	4	3*	3	2*	6	5*	3	3*	8	5*	5	5*
Given in kind	2	2*	2	1*	3	3*	2	3*	2	3*	3	3*
Note: *indicates a significant difference between the 1990 and 1995 values at, at least, the 10% level of significance or lower, using a paired t-test.
Source: author's calculations using ICES 1990/91 and 1995/96.

Table 4: Percentage distribution of households by number of income sources (NYS)

					Urban
	All		Rural		All		Bulawayo		Harare		Secondary cities
NYS	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995
1	18	26*	10	17*	35	38	41	39	51	47*	27	32*
2	23	30*	17	26*	34	35	36	33	29	32*	36	38*
3	20	22*	20	25*	20	18	16	18	13	14*	24	21*
4	17	14*	22	19*	7	6	5	7	5	5*	9	7*
5	13	6*	18	9*	3	2	1	2	2	2*	3	2*
6	7	2*	9	3*	1	0	0	0	0	0*	1	1*
>6	3	1*	4	1*	0	0	0	0	0	0*	0	0*
Total	100	100*	100	100*	100	100	100	100	100	100*	100	100*
Note: *indicates a significant difference between the 1990 and 1995 values at the 10% level of significance or lower, using a paired t-test. The difference test is performed for the case NYS = 1 only.
Source: author's calculations using ICES 1990/91 and 1995/96.

Table 5: Percentage distribution of households by number of income earners (NYE)

					Urban
	All		Rural		All		Bulawayo		Harare		Secondary cities
NYE	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995	1990	1995
1	35	34	33	31	37	37	41	37*	38	34*	36	39
2	42	42	40	39	46	47	39	44*	43	50*	48	46
3	15	14	16	16	13	11	13	12*	14	11*	12	11
4	5	6	7	7	3	3	5	4*	4	3*	3	3
5	2	2	3	3	1	1	1	1*	1	1*	1	1
6	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	1*	0	0*	0	0
>6	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0*	0	0*	0	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100*	100	100*	100	100
Note: *indicates a significant difference between the 1990 and 1995 values at, at least, the 10% level of significance or lower, using a paired t-test. The difference test is performed for the case NYS = 1 only.
Source: author's calculations using ICES 1990/91 and 1995/96.

Figure 1 Number of income sources plotted against log per capita consumption before and after shocks, rural areas

Figure 2 Number of income sources plotted against log per capita consumption before and after shocks, urban areas

Figure 3 Number of income earners plotted against log per capita consumption before and after shocks, rural areas

Figure 4 Number of income earners plotted against log per capita consumption before and after shocks, urban areas

Table 6: Descriptive statistics

	Rural				Urban
	1990		1995		1990		1995
Variable	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Head sex (male)	0,62	0,48	0,64	0,48	0,82	0,38	0,80	0,40
Head education: none	0,89	0,61	1,02	0,71	1,45	0,64	1,66	0,79
Head education: primary	0,25	0,43	0,21	0,41	0,05	0,22	0,04	0,20
Head education: secondary or higher	0,62	0,48	0,59	0,49	0,48	0,50	0,41	0,49
Head age (years)	0,13	0,34	0,19	0,40	0,47	0,50	0,54	0,50
Household size (number)	45,31	15,30	44,91	15,78	39,81	12,10	39,54	12,65
% Children up to and including 5 years	5,28	3,07	4,88	2,83	4,23	2,73	4,09	2,54
Number of boys 6–15 years	0,99	1,07	0,89	0,99	0,67	0,87	0,61	0,79
Number of girls 6–15 years	0,88	1,07	0,79	1,01	0,50	0,84	0,48	0,82
Number of male adults 16–59 years, with no education	0,87	1,07	0,79	1,01	0,53	0,86	0,52	0,85
Number of male adults 16–59 years, with primary education	0,11	0,32	0,08	0,27	0,03	0,19	0,02	0,13
Number of male adults 16–59 years, with secondary or higher education	0,51	0,67	0,49	0,65	0,43	0,58	0,34	0,54
Number of female adults 16–59 years, with no education	0,38	0,68	0,38	0,65	0,82	0,91	0,86	0,87
Number of female adults 16–59 years, with primary education	0,25	0,49	0,19	0,42	0,06	0,26	0,04	0,19
Number of female adults 16–59 years, with secondary or higher education	0,69	0,72	0,66	0,70	0,45	0,60	0,39	0,57
Number of elderly (60 years and over)	0,29	0,61	0,32	0,60	0,64	0,82	0,72	0,84
Credit access	0,20	0,22	0,30	0,19	0,48	0,15	0,37	0,16
Non-farm income share	0,56	0,38	0,55	0,41	0,97	0,12	0,96	0,16
Number of income sources	3,66	1,63	2,91	1,38	2,11	1,10	2,01	1,04
Number of income sources per adult	2,14	1,39	1,73	1,15	1,12	0,73	1,08	0,73
Number of income earners	2,11	1,21	2,18	1,29	1,78	0,92	1,69	1,02
Number of income earners per capita	0,50	0,28	0,54	0,29	0,55	0,31	0,50	0,31
Percentage with formal wage income	0,31	0,46	0,30	0,46	0,72	0,45	0,64	0,48
Percentage with informal wage income	0,11	0,31	0,16	0,37	0,19	0,40	0,28	0,45
Percentage with farming income	0,86	0,35	0,84	0,37	0,40	0,49	0,42	0,49
Percentage with non-labour income	0,69	0,46	0,46	0,50	0,47	0,50	0,36	0,48
Formal wage income share	0,27	0,42	0,26	0,41	0,66	0,43	0,58	0,46
Informal wage income share	0,04	0,16	0,07	0,21	0,13	0,31	0,17	0,33
Agricultural income share	0,42	0,38	0,44	0,40	0,02	0,11	0,03	0,14
Non-labour income share	0,23	0,30	0,20	0,31	0,13	0,28	0,14	0,30
Income diversification index (H)	0,61	0,26	0,67	0,25	0,86	0,19	0,84	0,22
Per capita real consumption^1	78,5	111,8	59,64	97,18	243,5	438,2	146,9	278,4
Per capita asset holding	0,66	0,70	0,56	0,61	0,82	1,29	0,80	0,99
^1Normalized to real terms in July 1990 Zimbabwe dollars, using a consumer price index that takes into account variations in survey month and regions.
Source: Zimbabwe ICES 1990/91 and 1995/96.

Table 7: Ordered probit estimates of number of income sources (NYS)

	Rural		Urban
Variable	1990	1995	1990	1995
Head sex (male)	−0,253	−0,122	0,044	−0,154
	(9,51)**	(4,68)**	(0,85)	(3,96)**
Head with primary education	0,072	0,032	−0,215	−0,166
	(2,05)*	(0,89)	(1,89)	(2,03)*
Head with secondary or higher education	−0,269	−0,109	−0,285	−0,319
	(5,13)**	(2,20)*	(2,40)*	(3,66)**
Head age	0,004	0,013	0,029	0,013
	(0,97)	(3,17)**	(3,48)**	(2,37)*
Head age squared	0,000	−0,000	−0,000	−0,000
	(1,06)	(1,30)	(2,61)**	(0,70)
Number of children up to and including	0,113	0,124	0,039	0,012
5 years	(9,87)**	(10,42)**	(1,86)	(0,66)
Number of boys 6–15 years	0,114	0,090	0,072	0,075
	(10,59)**	(8,09)**	(3,54)**	(4,45)**
Number of girls 5–15 years	0,106	0,086	0,032	0,092
	(9,75)**	(7,77)**	(1,61)	(5,69)**
Number of male adults 16–59 years with no	0,026	0,066	−0,257	−0,080
education	(0,61)	(1,39)	(2,05)*	(0,69)
Number of male adults 16–59 years with	0,094	0,071	0,020	0,040
primary education	(4,88)**	(3,72)**	(0,47)	(1,13)
Number of male adults 16–59 years with	0,118	0,121	0,143	0,199
secondary or higher education	(6,80)**	(6,73)**	(6,93)**	(11,76)**
Number of female adults 16–59 years with	0,106	0,074	0,128	0,129
no education	(4,05)**	(2,52)*	(1,87)	(1,80)
Number of female adults 16–59 years with	0,155	0,128	0,194	0,185
primary education	(8,68)**	(7,24)**	(6,08)**	(6,86)**
Number of female adults 16–59 years with	0,139	0,125	0,240	0,178
secondary or higher education	(7,39)**	(6,56)**	(10,73)**	(10,13)**
Per capita asset holding	0,270	0,269	−0,014	0,020
	(16,45)**	(17,18)**	(1,14)	(1,35)
SD of rainfall, planting season	1,761	−3,126	1,261	4,519
	(10,32)**	(7,43)**	(3,76)**	(5,21)**
SD of rainfall, growing season	0,853	−0,991	−0,036	2,817
	(17,98)**	(5,40)**	(0,38)	(7,36)**
SD of rainfall, harvest season	0,637	0,208	−0,079	−1,152
	(13,83)**	(2,85)**	(0,89)	(8,15)**
Bulawayo (0, 1)	–	–	−0,003	0,373
	–	–	(0,03)	(8,65)**
Secondary cities (0, 1)	–	–	0,681	0,378
	–	–	(11,29)**	(11,96)**
Observations	9 342	9 910	4 561	7 177
Absolute value of z statistics in parentheses: *significant at 5%; **significant at 1%.

Table 8: Ordered probit estimates of number of income earners (NYE)

	Rural		Urban
Variable	1990	1995	1990	1995
Head sex (male)	0,559	0,534	1,162	0,780
	(18,91)**	(18,68)**	(20,55)**	(19,35)**
Head with primary education	−0,096	−0,264	−0,121	−0,176
	(2,50)*	(6,84)**	(0,99)	(2,12)*
Head with secondary or higher education	0,370	−0,080	0,375	−0,109
	(6,39)**	(1,50)	(2,95)**	(1,23)
Head age	−0,018	−0,000	0,037	0,003
	(3,70)**	(0,05)	(4,21)**	(0,59)
Head age squared	0,000	0,000	−0,000	0,000
	(10,12)**	(6,62)**	(4,44)**	(0,11)
Number of children up to and including	0,128	0,171	0,282	0,285
5 years	(10,28)**	(13,36)**	(12,52)**	(15,61)**
Number of boys 6–15 years	0,016	0,060	−0,009	−0,025
	(1,36)	(5,05)**	(0,43)	(1,43)
Number of girls 6–15 years	0,039	0,064	0,023	0,038
	(3,34)**	(5,39)**	(1,05)	(2,31)*
Number of male adults 16–59 years with	0,779	0,616	0,412	0,130
no education	(17,19)**	(12,17)**	(3,13)**	(1,13)
Number of male adults 16–59 years with	0,914	0,963	0,489	0,442
primary education	(41,28)**	(43,76)**	(11,12)**	(12,14)**
Number of male adults 16–59 years with	0,474	0,760	0,325	0,521
secondary or higher education	(24,78)**	(37,80)**	(14,72)**	(28,93)**
Number of female adults 16–59 years with	1,069	1,102	0,955	0,682
no education	(35,93)**	(34,03)**	(12,75)**	(9,27)**
Number of female adults 16–59 years with	1,064	1,096	1,018	0,764
primary education	(49,98)**	(52,41)**	(28,59)**	(26,98)**
Number of female adults 16–59 years with	0,755	0,930	0,764	0,692
secondary or higher education	(35,67)**	(43,37)**	(30,36)**	(36,38)**
Per capita asset holding	−0,054	0,018	0,005	0,034
	(2,79)**	(1,01)	(0,40)	(2,30)*
SD of rainfall, planting season	0,713	2,952	−0,221	1,859
	(3,80)**	(6,45)**	(0,61)	(2,08)*
SD of rainfall, growing season	0,146	1,179	−0,064	0,847
	(2,81)**	(5,91)**	(0,62)	(2,14)*
SD of rainfall, harvest season	0,048	−0,391	−0,055	−0,633
	(0,95)	(4,92)**	(0,57)	(4,35)**
Bulawayo (0, 1)	–	–	−0,066	0,074
	–	–	(0,63)	(1,71)
Secondary cities (0, 1)	–	–	−0,121	0,185
	–	–	(1,90)	(5,87)**
Observations	9 342	9 910	4 561	7 177
Absolute value of z statistics in parentheses: *significant at 5%; **significant at 1%.