The 2019-20 Rwanda Demographic Health Survey (RDHS), which was released this week, has revealed that the current employment trend among women aged 15-49 has declined over the past 5 years, from 78% in 2014-15 to 66% in 2019-20.

The RDHS, which is conducted every after five years, provides data for monitoring the population and health situation in Rwanda

According to the report, the employment trends for males in the same age group increased slightly from 85% to 87% over the same period of time.

The survey, carried out by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health reveals that the participants were respondents who were employed in the seven days before the survey and a sample of women and men aged 15-49.

They were asked whether they were employed at the time of the survey and, if not, whether they had worked at any time during the 12 months preceding the survey. Furthermore, 7% of women and 2% of men reported that they had worked in the past 12 months but were not currently employed.

Employment by patterns, characteristics 

The report revealed that divorced, separated, or widowed women (82%) are more likely to be employed than women who are currently married or living together with a partner (77%) and those who have never been married (49%).

Among men, those who are currently married or living with a partner (99%) and those who are divorced, separated, or widowed (93%) are more likely to be employed than those who have never been married (74%).

The report also indicates notable variations in the proportion of currently employed women and men by place of residence, revealing that rural women and men (69% and 88%, respectively) are more likely to be employed than urban women and men (57% and 83%, respectively).

Another fact is that the percentage of women who are currently employed decreases with increasing wealth – from 74% among those in the lowest wealth quintile to 56% among those in the highest wealth quintile.

A similar pattern is observed among men; 90% of those in the lowest wealth quintile is currently employed, as compared with 83% of those in the highest quintile.

The report reads that there is no linear relationship between current employment and level of education among either female or male respondents.

Employment in terms of occupations

The 2019-20 RDHS states that the two most frequently reported occupations in Rwanda are agriculture (46% among women and 39% among men) and unskilled manual labor (28% among women and 31% among men). A higher percentage of women than men are engaged in agricultural work.

Twenty-three percent of employed women in Rwanda are not paid for their work. Women engaged in agricultural work are much more likely (42%) than those working in nonagricultural occupations (8%) to not be paid for their work.

The report declares that there has been a substantial decline since 2014-15 in the proportion of women working in agricultural occupations, from 76% to 46%. Among men, the proportion has decreased from 58% to 39%.

The proportion of women and men who are engaged in unskilled manual labor has increased dramatically, from 10% to 31% among men and from 2% to 28% among women.