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KILM 3. Status in employment
Introduction
The indicator of status in employment distinguishes between three important and useful categories of the total employed. These are: (a) wage and salaried workers (also known as employees); (b) self-employed workers; and (c) contributing family workers (also known as unpaid family workers). These three groups of workers are presented as percentages of the total employed for both sexes and for males and females separately. Information on the subcategories of the self-employed group – self-employed workers with employees (employers) and self-employed workers without employees (own-account workers) – is not available for all economies but is presented wherever possible.
The indicator on status in employment is available for most developed (industrialized) and transition economies, as well as for many Eastern Asian, Latin American and Caribbean economies. Unfortunately, there are only a few sub-Saharan African economies for which this indicator is available and, where coverage does exist, extensive time series are lacking. Currently, information is also unavailable for some large developing economies, such as China and India. Information for the indicator is included in table 3, at least to some extent, for 129 economies.
Figure 3a. Distribution of workforce by status in employment, selected economies, 2001
A static picture of employment by status for one point in time, 2001, shows a certain degree of variation across regions. Among the developed (industrialized) economies (with the exception of Turkey) and in Estonia (representative of the transition economies), wage and salaried employment is clearly the dominant group, accounting for 60 to 90 per cent of the workforce. In developing economies in Asia and Latin America, in comparison, proportions are much smaller for wage and salaried workers and larger for both self-employed workers and contributing family workers, but with greater variation.
Figure 3b. Percentage point change in distribution of workforce by status in employment, selected economies, 1990-2001
When the same economies are viewed over time, a variety of patterns result. There are economies where there has been a rise in the proportion of wage and salaried workers and self-employed workers, with a decrease in contributing family workers (New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Thailand) and economies showing a rise in wage and salaried workers and a decline in other status groups (Australia, Austria, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Turkey). Ecuador, Ireland, Italy and Japan show declining proportions of self-employed whereas only Bolivia, Costa Rica and Estonia had declining proportions of wage and salaried employment.
