Labour force characteristics
30
Even more remarkable is the gender-specific impact of the adjusted definition. Overall, male unemployment rises from 7 to 12 percent and rural male unemployment even slightly more to 13 percent. However, urban unemployment does
not change to a significant degree a rise from 9 to 10 percent only, again indicating that only few urban workers work less than 8 hours per week. On the other hand the unemployment pattern for women completely changes: the share of
unemployed triples to 21 percent and shows particularly high unemployment rates in rural and urban areas 20 and 28 percent, respectively. This indicates that a significant 14 percent of women work less than 8 hours.
Figure 4.4 Unemployment rates for 1-hour and 8-hours work criteria, by residence and sex
The 8-hour unemployment measure for women is, however, particularly unreliable. It is likely that many of the additionally unemployed women are occupied with care and household tasks and cannot or do not want to be engaged in more
work than they presently do. Therefore, these women should not be classified as unemployed, but as either inactive or employed. Since it is especially the contribution of these women that raises the overall unemployment rate from the
1-hour to the 8-hours definition, the credibility of the latter as a measure of unemployment or even underemployment is critically undermined.
Cross-classifying the weekly working hours of the employed by poverty status see also chapter 6 indicates that at any level of working hours a significant share of the employed cannot extract sufficient income to provide sufficiently for their
families. Overall, 35 percent of the employed are poor, but even of those working 60 or more hours per week, 29 percent cannot meet the basic needs Figure 4.5. On the other hand, it is observed that the percentage poor among the labour
force that is unemployed 38 percent hardly differs from that of the employed. This may indicate that being unemployed is not necessarily a sign of impoverishment, but may partly be representative of those that can afford being unemployed,
for instance because of other household incomes.
The message of Figure 4.5 is clearly that being employed or unemployed according to the one-hour criterion, nor any other criterion solely referring to the actual number of hours worked, provide an adequate indication of the extent to
which the labour market of Afghanistan is able to provide sufficient and productive labour opportunities. Measures of underemployment are essential to supplement the deficient concept of unemployment in the situation of Afghanistan.
Figure 4.5 Percentage poor, by employment status, and by working hours for those employed
4.3 Characteristics of employment
4.3.1 Status in employment
Status in employment is an indicator of the types of economic risk that the employed face in their work,
the strength of institutional attachment between the person and the job, and the type of authority
over establishments and other workers. The NRVA 20078 distinguishes several categories of workers,
largely in line with the International Classification of Status in Employment ICSE-93. A breakdown of
employment information by status in employment provides a statistical basis for describing workers’
behaviour and working conditions, and for defining an individual’s socio-economic group. Thus, a high proportion of salaried workers in a country generally signifies advanced
economic development. On the other hand, if the proportions of day labourers, own-account workers and family workers are sizeable, it may be an indication of a large agriculture sector and low growth in the formal economy. According to the
ILO, these groups can be considered to be in vulnerable employment, since they are likely to be characterised by informal work arrangements and insecure employment, unstable and inadequate earnings, low productivity, and a lack of safety
nets that guard against loss of incomes during economic hardship ILO 2007, ILO 2009.
Table 4.3 shows that overall, the large majority of the employed in Afghanistan 77 percent fall within the category of vulnerable employment.
5
Almost all women 95 percent and Kuchi 90 percent do so. Salaried workers – with nine percent of the total labour force – are the only recognizable group in the labour market that can be considered to have
secure jobs. As indicated in table 4.3, the occurrence of salaried work is mainly an urban phenomenon. There is a strong gender differentiation across the status-in-employment categories, as day labourers, salaried workers,
employers and own-account workers are mainly male ranging between 84 and 97 percent, data not shown here, and the category of unpaid family workers is largely female 78 percent.
Labour force characteristics
31
MDG Indicator 1.7: Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment
This indicator is another recent addition to the official international list of MDG indicators for monitoring progress on achieving target 1.B: Achieve
full and productive employment and decent work for all. The NRVA indicates that 77 percent of the employed are in the vulnerable
categories of own-account and contributing family workers. If day labourers are also included, the figure would rise to 91 percent The situation in
neighbouring Pakistan and Iran is considerably better with, respectively 62 and 48 percent in vulnerable employment.
________________________________________________________ 5
For reasons of international comparability, day labourers are not included in vulnerable employment, since many countries do not distinguish this as a separate group in labour statistics. However, they fully qualify the criteria of vulnerable employment. If this category would be included, the total percentage of vulnerable
workers would rise to 91 percent.
Labour force characteristics
32
Table 4.3 Population 16 years of age and over, by residence, sex, and by status in employment in percentages
Status in employment
Residence, sex Urban
Rural Kuchi
National Male
Female Both
sexes Male
Female Both
sexes Male
Female Both
sexes Male
Female Both
sexes Day labourers
14 3
12 22
1 14
14 1
9 20
1 14
Salaried workers 29
27 29
8 2
6 2
1 12
3 9
Employers 1
1 1
Own account workers 54
31 50
57 20
43 62
15 44
56 20
44 Unpaid family workers
3 39
9 12
77 36
22 84
46 11
75 33
All employed 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 100
100 Vulnerable employment
71 73
71 91
98 94
98 100
99 88
96 91
4.3.2 Industry and occupation
The economy of Afghanistan is dominated by the agricultural sector. Around 59 percent of the employed
population is engaged in work in agriculture or livestock see
Figure 4.6. Only urban areas have a more balanced distribution, with trade 29 percent, various services 18
percent and public administration 14 percent being the most important industries.
Given the under-representation of women on the labour market, it can be expected that most industries reflect a
strong majority of male workers. This is indeed the case in construction, transportation and communication, trade,
education, and public administration, with a male presence ranging from 74 education to 99 percent construction,
transport and communication data not shown here. The only sectors with large female contributions are ‘other services’ 32 percent and agriculture and livestock
44 percent, whereas manufacturing has a majority of women in largely home-based craft industries 70 percent; among Kuchis even 95 percent. Urban areas deviate from the general picture in the sense that there is almost a gender balance
in the education and manufacturing sectors 49 and 48 percent women, respectively and more women than men are engaged in the agriculture and livestock industry.
Figure 4.6 Distribution of the employed population 16 years of age and over across economic sectors and residence in percentages
MDG Indicator 3.2: share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector
The MDG indicator is a measure of gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as the degree to which labour markets are
open to women in industry and service sectors, which affects not only equal employment opportunity for women but also economic efficiency
through flexibility of the labour market and, therefore, the economy’s ability to adapt to change. A higher share in paid employment could
secure for women better income, economic security and well-being.
In Afghanistan, women remain at a disadvantage in securing paid jobs. Their overall share in wage employment in the non-agricultural
sector is only eight percent, which is even significantly below the average for Southern Asia 17 percent, the region with the lowest
share in the world.
The NRVA 20078 did not collect population-wide information about occupations, but the occupational distribution can largely be deduced from the industry distribution. There can be little doubt that the large majority of employed persons is
employed as agricultural workers, either skilled or unskilled, at a distance followed by craft and trade workers, construction labourers and service workers.
4.3.3 Working hours
Noticeable differences exist between the number of hours worked across the urban, rural and Kuchi populations. The urban employed work on average significantly longer than the rural and Kuchi: 48 hours per week against 34 and 38
hours, respectively Figure 4.7.
6
For 28 percent of the urban workers an average working week of even 60 hours or more was reported, and only 9 percent work less than 20 hours. The variation across the residential populations is
largely caused by male workers, as averages for females vary only little. Figure 4.7 also shows that women are occupied in work for much less time than men, especially in the urban sector. This
further deteriorates women’s disadvantaged position on the labour market, given their already low employment ratio. There is also a differentiation in average working hours by age, revealing an inverse U-shaped pattern, with working
hours peaking in the age group 25-39. The age effect is more pronounced for men than for women, and more among rural workers than in the other working populations.
Figure 4.7 Average number of weekly working hours by the employed population, by residence, and by sex
4.4 Children and work
In view of participation in education see Section 7.3 and the need for additional income in many Afghan households, a significant number of children is involved in work or employment. The risk of children engaged in employment is that
the work activities in various ways may jeopardize their health or development. However, this is not necessarily the case for all child employment. The concept of child labour was introduced to identify the type of child employment that
exposes children to harmful conditions. Its definition is a long-debated issue on many international fora, and is applied differently across countries. Nevertheless, international recommendations were approved at the 2008 18th International
Conference of Labour Statisticians, in consultation with – among others – ILO and UNICEF ILO 2008b.
The adopted definition specifies child labour along four dimensions see also Box ‘Child labour’ below:
•
Covering economic production activities, falling in the System of National Accounts SNA production boundary.
•
The nature of the work children are involved in, in the sense of a light work, b other, not hazardous work, c hazardous work, and d worst forms of child labour.
7
Labour force characteristics
33
_________________________________________________________ 6
In the period August-October, covering the harvest season, working hours of the rural and Kuchi working population are significantly higher than the annual average.
7
For definitions, see the glossary at the end of this report.
