Name: JobLadda
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Key takeaways

Several countries now exceed 10 million workers in their labour force.
South Africa's developed economy still trails Tanzania and Egypt by labour-force size, with 27.3M workers.
Nigeria, Ethiopia and the DRC together hold more than 200 million workers — over a third of Africa's total.
East Africa is a major hub: Kenya (23M) and Uganda (22M) both feature in the top ten.
Nigeria's labour force jumped from 88.6M in 2016 to 110.2M in 2023 — one of the fastest expansions on the continent.
Ethiopia grew from 49.1M in 2020 to 52.9M in 2023, even through years of conflict.
With Africa's total population at ~1.48 billion, only 38.28% of people are in the formal labour force — meaning informal and subsistence work likely accounts for the rest.

Sources

· Methodology: ILO modelled estimates, UN Population Division, World Bank staff estimates.

· Population: UN DESA World Population Prospects 2024 revision.

· License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-4.0).

Several countries now exceed 10 million workers in their labour force.
South Africa's developed economy still trails Tanzania and Egypt by labour-force size, with 27.3M workers.
Nigeria, Ethiopia and the DRC together hold more than 200 million workers — over a third of Africa's total.
East Africa is a major hub: Kenya (23M) and Uganda (22M) both feature in the top ten.
Nigeria's labour force jumped from 88.6M in 2016 to 110.2M in 2023 — one of the fastest expansions on the continent.
Ethiopia grew from 49.1M in 2020 to 52.9M in 2023, even through years of conflict.
With Africa's total population at ~1.48 billion, only 38.28% of people are in the formal labour force — meaning informal and subsistence work likely accounts for the rest.

Africa's labour force reached 566.2 million workers in 2023