Afghanistan: Only 5% of labor market are women under Taliban
The International Labour Organization estimates that only 5.1% of workers in Afghanistan are women, five years after the Taliban's return to power. That's less than a third of the proportion in 2019 and 2020.
In Afghanistan, women now comprise only around 5% of the labor market, according to a recent report by the International Labour Organization (ILO). This figure represents a significant decline from pre-Taliban times, with the country now having the second lowest female labor force participation rate globally. The ILO attributes this stark exclusion to severe restrictions on women's access to education and employment, and stresses the urgent need to address this issue to bolster Afghanistan's economy.
The Taliban's swift return to power in August 2021, following the US-NATO withdrawal, brought about a dramatic shift in the labor market landscape. Since then, Afghanistan's GDP has plummeted by nearly 15% amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the country has largely failed to recover to its pre-Taliban economic levels. Employment numbers have increased, but not rapidly enough to offset population growth, resulting in a stagnant workforce share of under one-third of the population.
The report also highlights the impact of large-scale returns of emigrants, primarily from Iran and Pakistan, on the labor market, warning that remittance inflows could drop from around 4% of GDP in 2020 to 2% by 2025. The Middle East crisis has further added uncertainty, exacerbating inflation, food and fuel prices, trade, and transport disruptions, particularly affecting low-skilled workers.
Written by urgent.news from DW News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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