57
Table 5.2: Labour force, by sex, and by age
Age In thousands
In percentages Both sexes
Men Women
Both sexes Men
Women Total
8,515.5 6,322.6
2,192.9 100.0
100.0 100.0
14-19 1,743.5
1,205.8 537.7
20.5 19.1
24.5 20-29
2,608.8 1,928.9
679.8 30.6
30.5 31.0
30-39 1,613.0
1,228.2 384.8
18.9 19.4
17.5 40-49
1,251.2 930.5
320.7 14.7
14.7 14.6
50-59 818.5
621.8 196.7
9.6 9.8
9.0 60-69
361.5 306.9
54.6 4.2
4.9 2.5
70-79 100.9
85.6 15.3
1.2 1.4
0.7 80-89
15.2 12.6
2.5 0.2
0.2 0.1
90+ 2.9
2.3 0.6
0.0 0.0
0.0
Figure 5.3: Labour force, by age, and by sex
a
a
Numbers in parentheses denote the shares of total in each category.
5.3 Employment, underemployment and unemployment
5.3.1 Overview of employment, underemployment and unemployment
This section unbundles Afghanistan’s labour market participation into the constituent components of employment, underemployment and unemployment as first defined in the NRVA report of 2011-12 CSO
2014 and set out above in
Table 5.1
above. Accordingly, even while roughly 15 million Afghans are at least 14 years of age and are of working age, and 8.5 million of them are working, only five million
individuals are employed gainfully, that is, working at least eight hours in paid employment or self- employment during the week-long reference period
Table 5.3
. An estimated 1.4 million are working, but
200 400
600 800
1,000 1,200
1,400 1,600
1,800 2,000
14-19 20-29
30-39 40-49
50-59 60-69
70-79 80+
T h
o u
san d
s
Age Men
Women
58
less than 40 hours a week. These individuals, together with 1.9 million unemployed people, account for those not gainfully employed.
As a result, the employment-to-population ratio for the country at large is 43 percent, which is the
average of a rate of 67 percent for men, but 18 percent for women. Only one fourth of this number
is women, accounting for roughly a million
individuals, while four million of the gainfully employed are men. Three fourths of all those gainfully employed also live in rural areas, nearly two million live in urban areas, but only half a million are Kuchi.
Table 5.3: Working-age population, by activity status, and by residence, sex
a. In thousands Residence,
Labour Employed
Under- Un-
Not gainfully Inactive
sex force
employed employment
employed National
8,515.5 5,198.4
1,394.7 1,922.4
3,317.1 6,859.5
Male 6,322.6
4,107.9 1,098.8
1,115.9 2,214.7
1,479.9 Female
2,192.9 1,090.5
296.0 806.4
1,102.4 5,379.6
Urban 1,962.7
1,318.4 156.6
487.8 644.4
2,098.3 Male
1,534.8 1,142.4
123.0 269.3
392.3 504.3
Female 428.0
176.0 33.5
218.5 252.0
1,594.0 Rural
6,058.0 3,539.8
1,144.0 1,374.2
2,518.2 4,550.4
Male 4,452.5
2,727.1 914.5
810.8 1,725.3
934.5 Female
1,605.5 812.7
229.5 563.4
792.9 3,615.8
Kuchi 494.8
340.2 94.2
60.4 154.6
210.8 Male
335.4 238.3
61.2 35.8
97.0 41.1
Female 159.4
101.9 32.9
24.6 57.5
169.8 b. As indicators
Residence, Labour force
Population-to Under-
Un- Not gainfully
Rate of sex
participation employment
employment employment
employment inactivity
rate -ratio
rate rate
rate National
55.4 42.9
16.4 22.6
39.0 44.6
Male 81.0
66.7 17.4
17.6 35.0
19.0 Female
29.0 18.3
13.5 36.8
50.3 71.0
Urban 48.3
36.3 8.0
24.9 32.8
51.7 Male
75.3 62.1
8.0 17.5
25.6 24.7
Female 21.2
10.4 7.8
51.1 58.9
78.8 Rural
57.1 44.2
18.9 22.7
41.6 42.9
Male 82.7
67.6 20.5
18.2 38.7
17.3 Female
30.7 20.0
14.3 35.1
49.4 69.3
Kuchi 70.1
61.6 19.0
12.2 31.2
29.9 Male
89.1 79.6
18.3 10.7
28.9 10.9
Female 48.4
41.0 20.7
15.4 36.1
51.6
MDG indicator 1.5 Employment-to-population ratio
42.9
59
In contrast, 39 percent of Afghanistan’s labour force is not gainfully employed, and this rate rises to 50 percent for women, and drops to 35 percent of the male workforce. These individuals were either
