The latest Labour Force Survey by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) reveals an encouraging trend: although agriculture remains the largest employer in Rwanda, the job market is slowly shifting away from agriculture toward services. In February 2025, 43.7% of all employed people worked in agriculture. But this is lower than last year’s 46.9%, meaning fewer people are relying on agriculture compared to before. In the first quarter of 2019, agriculture accounted for just 39.8% of jobs. Although this increased at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic – 52 per cent during 2021–2022 – it has since dropped, signaling an economy that is stablising. On the other hand, the services sector has shown improved growth. By the end of February this year, 42 per cent of employed people worked in services like education, health, transport, banking, hotels. This is an increase from 39.4 per cent in the same period last year. Before the pandemic, the services sector had grown to account for 41.2 per cent of the job market in 2019. The latest survey clearly shows that more people are moving into service jobs. This kind of shift is typical when an economy modernises as people move from farming into services and urban jobs. This aligns with Rwanda’s vision to become a service-led, knowledge-based economy. These aspirations are enshrined in Vision 2050, a blueprint to transform Rwanda into a high-income, service-led, knowledge-based economy. This means shifting away from traditional sectors like agriculture toward finance, ICT, professional services, education, health, tourism, and innovation-driven industries. Investors have already started buying into this vision, with new and sophisticated financial services providers rolling out their operations in the country, and leading outsourcing companies scaling to tap into the growing sector. While Rwanda’s aspiration to become a service-led, knowledge-based economy is clear, it must move beyond strategic blueprints to urgent and aggressive action. Many Rwandans employed in the services sector are concentrated in low-paying, unstable, and informal jobs such as waiters, hairdressers, cleaners, receptionists, and call center attendants. This reality is partly driven by a persistent skills mismatch. In contrast, high-wage, stable, and formal service jobs in areas like IT, banking, and engineering consulting require advanced skills that many workers currently lack. Closing this gap will require focused government efforts to expand access to quality education, vocational training, and targeted upskilling programmes.
