Ethiopia KILM

Conclusion
4. CONCLUSION
Analysis of trends in seven Key Indicators of Labour Market (KILM) in Ethiopia during the period
1994-2007 revealed several features of the county’s labour market dynamics.
First, the labour force participation rate (LFPR) in Ethiopia has shown an increasing trend for the
period 1994-2005 and a declining trend from 2005- 2007. One possible explanation for the decline of
the LFPR particularly for the younger age group (15-24) is that due to improved educational
attainment they postponed their entry into the labour market in order to pursue their studies.
Second, country has been experienced a declining employment-to-population ratio throughout the
period. When one further scrutinize the employment-to-population ratios by age chorots, it was
found that, the ratios were relatively less for the young (in the age group 15-24) and the older (aged
65 + ) people. On the other hand, the employment-to- population ratio for male was higher than for
their female counterparts in all age groups.
Third, employment by sector showed that during the period 1994-2007, significant shares of
employed persons of the country were absorbed by agriculture sector, followed by Service sector and
industry sector (5.5% in1999 and 6.6% in 2005). From this it can be deduced that there has not been
significant economic transformation during the period being reviewed.
Fourth, it is found that the share of informal economy employment for the years 1999 -2010 was
significant but showed a declining trend. Furthermore, the proportion of female who were engaged
in the informal economy was higher than their male counterparts during the reference period.
Fifth, the national unemployment rate was 3.1% in 1994 while it showed a slight increase in 1999
(8.2%) and declined to 5.5% and 4.0% in 2005 and 2007, respectively.
It is learnt that generally, female experienced high unemployment rate than their male counterpart
in all years. Possible explanations are: women are more likely than men to exit and re-enter the
labour force for family-related reasons and other gender inequalities outside the labour market, for
example access to education and training, also negatively affect how women fare in finding jobs.
Six, it was found that, youth unemployment rate of the country was relatively low in1994 (5.3%) and
high in 1999 (11.9%) and afterwards showed a declining trend i.e., 7.9% in 2005 and 5.4% in 2007. It
was also found that youth unemployment rates were higher for male youth than their female
counterparts.
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