Demographic and Health Survey 2009-10 - Timor-Leste Ministry of ...

3.4.3 Earnings, Employers, and Continuity of Employment
Table 3.7 shows the percent distribution of women by type of earnings and employment
characteristics. These tables also present data on whether respondents are involved in agricultural or
nonagricultural occupations because all of the employment variables shown in the tables are strongly
influenced by the sector of employment.
Table 3.7 Type of employment
Percent distribution of women age 15-49 employed in the 12 months preceding
the survey by type of earnings, type of employer, and continuity of employment,
according to type of employment (agricultural or nonagricultural), Timor-Leste
2009-10
Employment
characteristic
Agricultural
work
Nonagricultural
work Total
Type of earnings
Cash only 2.3 45.6 19.3
Cash and in-kind 0.3 2.1 1.0
In-kind only 1.1 0.5 0.9
Not paid 96.2 51.7 78.8
Missing 0.0 0.1 0.0
Total
Type of employer
100.0 100.0 100.0
Employed by family member
Employed by nonfamily
19.3 11.1 16.1
member 1.3 37.8 15.6
Self-employed 79.5 51.2 68.4
Total
Continuity of employment
100.0 100.0 100.0
All year 26.9 68.0 42.9
Seasonal 57.0 22.7 43.7
Occasional 16.1 9.2 13.5
Total
Number of women employed
100.0 100.0 100.0
during the last 12 months 3,154 1,992 5,186
Note: Total includes 40 women with missing information on type of employment
who are not shown separately.
Four-fifths of working women are not paid for their work. This is because the vast majority of
women (96 percent) engaged in agricultural work are unpaid workers, most likely employed by family
members at the peak of the agricultural season. On the other hand, almost one in two women
employed in nonagricultural work will receive cash earnings.
More than two-thirds of women are self-employed, with self-employment much higher in the
agricultural (80 percent) than in the nonagricultural sector (51 percent). Women are as likely to be
employed by a family member as by a nonfamily member (16 percent each). One in five women
working in the agricultural sector is working for a family member compared with only 11 percent of
women working in the nonagricultural sector. In addition, the proportion of women employed by
someone outside the family is higher among those working in the nonagricultural sector than among
those working in the agricultural sector (38 percent versus 1 percent).
About two in five women work all year. A similar proportion works seasonally, while one in
seven works occasionally. Continuity of employment also varies by sector. The majority of women
employed in the agricultural sector are seasonal workers (57 percent), compared with only one in four
among those working in the nonagricultural sector. On the other hand, 68 percent of women working
in the nonagricultural sector work all year compared with 27 percent of women engaged in
agricultural work.
Characteristics of Respondents | 43