Supporting employment in a country requires measures that not only improve the quality of labor supply by enhancing the skills of the workforce, but also unleash opportunities for labor demand including job creation and private sector development.
This report provides a descriptive analysis of development budget expenditures that directly or indirectly support employment in Afghanistan, including job creation, skills enhancement, and private sector development.
Analysis in this report reveals that on-budget development spending on programs that support “employment”, i.e., those targeted at job creation, skills enhancement, and private sector development, have consistently increased over the past six years, increasing from around Afs 35 billion (about US$ 650 million) in 2013 to slightly more than Afs 70 billion (nearly US$ 990 million) in 2018. In real terms, this shows an increase of nearly 75 percent between 2013 and 2018. In per capita terms, development spending on employment has increased from around Afs 1,300 ($23) to Afs 2,250 ($31) over the same period. At its peak, the share of development spending on employment programs reached 66 percent in 2017, as compared to 44 percent in 2013 and 56 percent in 2018.