Ethiopia KILM

Employment by sector KILM 4
1999 and 80.2% in 2005) were absorbed by agriculture sector, followed by Service sector (14.5% in
1999 and 13.1% in 2005) and industry sector (5.5% in1999 and 6.6% in 2005).
Table 8: Employed population aged 15 years and over by Sector
EMPLOYMENT BY SECTOR
YEAR AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY SERVICE NOT STATED
M F M+F M F M+F M F M+F M F M+F
1999 85.9 71.8 79.8 4.2 7.3 5.5 9.7 20.8 14.5 0.1 0.2 0.2
2005 84.3 75.5 80.2 5.2 8.4 6.6 10.5 16.1 13.1 0.0 0.0 0.0
Source: CSA, Calculated based on 1999 & 2005 Labour Force Survey.
As it can be seen from the same table above, among the total labour force employed in agriculture
sector, male constitutes the larger share 85.9% in 19919 and 84.3% in 2005; while the share of female
was 71.8% and 75.5% in that order.
On the other hand, the proportion of females employed in service sector (20.1% in 1999 and 16.1% in
2005) and industry sector (7.3% in 1999 and 8.4% in 2005) was higher than their male counterparts
in these sectors.
When one compares employment by sector in Ethiopia (for the year 1999 and 2005) with that of
world and regional estimates, the share of employed work force in agriculture sector is significantly
large in Ethiopia. On the other hand, employed persons in industry and service sectors are less in
Ethiopia as compared with world, North Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa estimates for the year 1998 and
2008.
Table 9: World and regional estimates of employment by Sector
AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY SERVICE
YEAR M F M+F M F M+F M F M+F
WORLD
1998 40.4 43.5 41.6 23.1 15.3 20.0 36.5 41.2 38.4
2008 33.6 35.9 34.5 25.6 15.8 21.6 40.8 48.3 43.8
NORTH AFRICA
1998 36.5 38.2 36.9 19.5 16.6 18.9 44.0 45.2 44.3
2008 32.0 36.7 33.2 23.4 20.4 22.6 44.6 42.9 44.1
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
1998 65.6 68.2 66.7 10.5 4.5 7.9 24.0 27.3 25.4
2008 62.0 59.6 61.0 11.6 5.4 8.9 26.4 35.0 30.2
Source: ILO, Key Indicators of Labour Market (KILM) 6 th Edition, 2009.
14