Ethiopia KILM

Youth unemployment KILM 10
Table15: Youth Unemployment rate (15-24) by sex
Youth
Unemployment Rate
Ratio of Youth
Unemployment Rate
to Adult
Share of Youth
Unemployed to Total
Unemployed
Share of Youth
Unemployed to
Youth Population
Unemployment Rate
Year M F M+F M F M+F M F M+F M F M+F
1994 4.8 6.0 5.3 2.2 3.2 2.6 50.8 63.2 56.4 3.8 3.9 3.9
1999 6.8 17.2 11.9 2.1 1.7 1.9 49.9 49.0 49.2 5.6 12.7 9.3
2005 4.2 11.4 7.9 2.0 1.7 1.8 47.4 46.8 47.0 3.4 8.5 6.1
2007 5.0 5.9 5.4 1.9 1.4 1.6 44.4 43.2 43.8 3.3 3.6 3.5
Source: CSA, Calculated based on 1999 & 2005 Labour Force Survey and 1994 & 2007 Census.
With regard to the Ratio of youth unemployment rate to Adult unemployment rate, it can be
deduced that youth unemployment rate on average (for all years being considered) was almost 2
times greater than that of adults. This implies that the youth as a group is severely affected by the
problem of unemployment than the adult population as the former lacks the required work
experience to compete in the labour market.
However, it can be observed from table 15 that the margin of difference in the rates of
unemployment between the youth and adult groups kept declining from 1994 to 2007.
As it appears in table 15, the Share of youth unemployment to total unemployment was high in 1994,
and showed a declining trend afterwards. On the other hand, the Share of youth unemployed to
youth population was highest (9.3%) in 1999 and lowest in 2007 (3.5%).
Youth unemployment rate by areas of residence is presented in Figure 12 below. Accordingly, youth
unemployment rate was 5.4% (5.0% for male and 5.9% for female) at national level in 2007. On the
other hand, youth unemployment rate for urban areas 34.0% ((32.5% for male and 35.4% for female)
and 2.1% (2.4% for male and 1.7% for female) in rural areas in 2007. From this it may be said that
youth unemployment is more of urban phenomenal than the rural.Figure 12:
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