Gender gap in employment rates reaches 15.5 percentage points in Mongolia
According to the third quarter of the 2024 Labor Force Survey, conducted at the national level, 1.4 million people of the total population aged 15 and above are part of the labor force, while 849.6 thousand people are categorized as outside the labor force, in Mongolia, Montsame reports.
The labor force participation rate rose to 63.0% in the third quarter of 2024, which showed an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the same period of the previous year. By gender, the labor force participation rate was 72.0 percent for men and 54.8 percent for women.
The widest gender gap in labor participation is observed in individuals aged 25-29. The employment rate reached 59.2%, a 0.8 percentage point increase from the previous year. By gender, 67.3% of men are employed, compared to 51.8% of women– a disparity of 15.5 percentage points.
The growth of the labor force participation rate can be largely attributed to a 2.6% (34.1 thousand) increase in the number of employed individuals compared to the same period last year. Simultaneously, the population outside the labor force decreased by 52.8% (23.0 thousand people), driven primarily by a decline in the number of individuals categorized as “potential labor force”---those not actively seeking work or not yet prepared to join the labor force.
In the third quarter of 2024, 52.9% (719.5 thousand people) worked in the service sector, 24.5% (332.8 thousand people) in the agricultural sector, and 22.6% (308.1 thousand people) in the industry and construction sector. Among workers under the age of 65, the majority are employed in the services sector. In comparison to the same period in 2023, employment in wholesale and retail trade, motor vehicle and motorcycle repair services, increased by 16.4% (26.4 thousand people) while sectors in agriculture, forestry, and fishery saw the largest decline, with a decrease of 13.0% (49.8 thousand people).
Labor underutilization affects approximately 79.8% (88.0 thousand) persons in unemployment, 18.6% (20.6 thousand) potential labor force participants, and 1.6% (1.7 thousand) underemployed workers due to time constraints. Compared to 2023, the unemployment rate increased by 0.8 percentage points, while both time-related underemployment and the combined unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points. Meanwhile, the combined rate of unemployment and potential labor force decreased by 0.7 percentage points, and the composite labor underutilization rate declined by 1.1 percentage points.
The indicators of labor underutilization are split into four age groups: people aged 14 to 24 (those entering the labor market after education), people aged 25 to 54 (the core working-age population), and people aged 55 to 64 (those approaching retirement).
