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Ecuador HUMAN RESOURCES AND INCOME
Composition of Labor Force
In 1987 about 3.3 million people, or 33 percent of Ecuador's
total population, were estimated to be economically active. The
economically active population was almost evenly divided between
the self-employed and wage earners. Agriculture remained the
largest employer in 1987, but the previous fifteen years had seen
the total percentage of the work force employed in this sector drop
from almost half (46 percent) to just slightly over a third (35
percent) (see
table 11, Appendix). The service sector experienced
the largest growth, with the percentage of the work force employed
in government and other services rising from 17 to 24 percent from
1974 to 1987. Manufacturing and commerce each employed about 10
percent of the economically active populace in 1987.
Although the percentage of the economically active population
employed in manufacturing declined from 12 percent in 1974 to 11
percent in 1987, the percentage engaged in commerce rose from 10
percent to 12 percent over the same period. Artisan manufacturing,
defined as firms employing up to thirteen workers, declined
compared with larger-scale factory manufacturing. Employment in
manufacturing also shifted to larger urban areas; in the late
1980s, over half of the labor force engaged in manufacturing was in
the provinces that included Quito and Guayaquil.
In the late 1980s, analysts estimated the median age for the
total labor force to be slightly under thirty. When broken down by
sex, however, data showed that women in the work force tended to be
younger. The median age for men alone was over thirty. Other
employment statistics broken down by gender revealed a higher ratio
of women employed in urban areas, whereas men had higher
percentages of employment in rural districts.
Data as of 1989
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