Labour force
In May 2024 (Q2), the working age population (16 years and above) was around 8.3 million of whom around 4.3 million were employed, 869 thousand were unemployed, and 3.1 million were out of the labour force.
The sum of the employed and unemployed population makes the population in the labour force 5.2 million persons. The proportion of working age population who were in the labour force has steadily increased since May 2019.
In May 2024, it was estimated to be 62.5% which is 3 percentage points higher than the estimated value in May 2023 (59.5%). The rate of the population outside labour force decreased to 37.5% in May 2024(Q2) from 40.5% in May 2023(Q2).
Employment
The employment-to-population ratio (EPR) increased to 52.0 % in May 2024(Q2) from 49.5% in May 2023(Q2). EPR increased for both males and females, by 2.7 percentage points and 2.3 percentage points respectively.
In May 2024(Q2), the employment-to-population ratio was higher among males (60.4%) than females (44.6%).
It was also higher for adults (55.8%) than youth aged 16-30 years old (47.2%). The employment to population ratio gender gap was 15.8 percentage points in May 2024 (Q2) and it stood almost stable as compared to May 2023 (Q2).
Unemployment
In May 2024 (Q2), the unemployment rate stood at 16.8 % indicating that roughly for every 6 persons in the labour force, there was one person unemployed. The unemployment rate was stable as compared to the same quarter last year and it has increased by 1.8 percentage points compared to the pre-COVID-19 estimates in the same quarter (15%).
The unemployment rate was higher among females (19.8%) than among males (14.1%). It was also higher among youth (20.5%) than among adults (14.1%). It was higher in rural areas than urban areas at 17.3 % and 15.7% respectively.
The unemployment rate gender gap was 5.7 percentage points in May 2024(Q2) and it slightly declined by 0.5 percentage points in the same quarter last year.