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Share of workers in vulnerable employment

ILO

What you should know about this indicator

  • This indicator shows the share of employed people in vulnerable employment – those working as own-account workers or as contributing family members. These groups are more likely to lack formal arrangements and social protection, and to have variable income.
  • Own-account workers are defined as workers in self-employment jobs who do not engage any employees to work with them. Contributing family members are workers in self-employment jobs who work in an enterprise operated by a related person living in the same household. These groups are defined according to the .
  • A higher share indicates greater labor market vulnerability, which is more common in lower-income countries. Over time, the share tends to fall as countries get richer and more workers move into wage and salaried employment. It’s important to note that this is a broad measure: even within this category, people’s work circumstances can vary widely. For example, some own-account workers in rich countries are highly paid professionals or freelancers, and would not usually be considered “vulnerable”.
  • When defining the working-age population, the definition of “working age” varies across countries, depending on national laws and practices. In the ILO modeled estimates shown here, this is harmonized to refer to people aged 15 and older.
  • This data comes from the ILO Modelled Estimates series. The ILO combines countries' own reported estimates with statistically modeled estimates when observations are missing. This improves comparability across countries and over time and allows the ILO to calculate regional and global aggregates for every year. You can read more about how the ILO produces these estimates in the Modelled Estimates documentation.
  • This data follows the standards of the . Under this framework, employment includes work for pay or profit, including self-employment, as well as the production of goods for own use (such as subsistence farming). Changes in the definition of employment also affect who is counted as unemployed or outside the labor force. Because definitions were updated under the , data using the newer definitions is not fully comparable with data based on the 13th ICLS. You can read more about the definitions in this explainer by the ILO.

How is this data described by its producer - ILO?

Vulnerable employment is contributing family workers and own-account workers as a percentage of total employment.

Limitations and exceptions:

Data are drawn from labor force surveys and household surveys, supplemented by official estimates and censuses for a small group of countries. Due to differences in definitions and coverage across countries, there are limitations for comparing data across countries and over time even within a country. Estimates of women in employment are not comparable internationally, reflecting that demographic, social, legal, and cultural trends and norms determine whether women's activities are regarded as economic.

Statistical concept and methodology:

The status in employment distinguishes between two categories of the total employed: (a) wage and salaried workers (also known as employees); and (b) self-employed workers, with the subcategories: (i) self-employed workers with employees (employers), (ii) self-employed workers without employees (own-account workers), and (iii) members of producers' cooperatives and contributing family workers (also known as unpaid family workers). Vulnerable employment refers to the sum of (ii) own-account workers and (iii) contributing family workers.

The series is part of the "ILO modeled estimates database," including nationally reported observations and imputed data for countries with missing data, primarily to capture regional and global trends with consistent country coverage. Country-reported microdata is based mainly on nationally representative labor force surveys, with other sources (e.g., household surveys and population censuses) considering differences in the data source, the scope of coverage, methodology, and other country-specific factors. Country analysis requires caution where limited nationally reported data are available. A series of models are also applied to impute missing observations and make projections. However, imputed observations are not based on national data, are subject to high uncertainty, and should not be used for country comparisons or rankings. For more information: https://ilostat.ilo.org/resources/concepts-and-definitions/ilo-modelled-estimates/

Notes from original source:

Given the exceptional situation, including the scarcity of relevant data, the ILO modeled estimates and projections from 2020 onwards are subject to substantial uncertainty.

Share of workers in vulnerable employment
ILO
Share of employed population who are working as own-account workers (self-employed without staff), or contributing family workers (self-employed in a household business or farm).
Source
World Bank and International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT (2025) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
September 8, 2025
Next expected update
September 2026
Date range
1991–2023
Unit
%

What you should know about this indicator

  • This indicator shows the share of employed people in vulnerable employment – those working as own-account workers or as contributing family members. These groups are more likely to lack formal arrangements and social protection, and to have variable income.
  • Own-account workers are defined as workers in self-employment jobs who do not engage any employees to work with them. Contributing family members are workers in self-employment jobs who work in an enterprise operated by a related person living in the same household. These groups are defined according to the .
  • A higher share indicates greater labor market vulnerability, which is more common in lower-income countries. Over time, the share tends to fall as countries get richer and more workers move into wage and salaried employment. It’s important to note that this is a broad measure: even within this category, people’s work circumstances can vary widely. For example, some own-account workers in rich countries are highly paid professionals or freelancers, and would not usually be considered “vulnerable”.
  • When defining the working-age population, the definition of “working age” varies across countries, depending on national laws and practices. In the ILO modeled estimates shown here, this is harmonized to refer to people aged 15 and older.
  • This data comes from the ILO Modelled Estimates series. The ILO combines countries' own reported estimates with statistically modeled estimates when observations are missing. This improves comparability across countries and over time and allows the ILO to calculate regional and global aggregates for every year. You can read more about how the ILO produces these estimates in the Modelled Estimates documentation.
  • This data follows the standards of the . Under this framework, employment includes work for pay or profit, including self-employment, as well as the production of goods for own use (such as subsistence farming). Changes in the definition of employment also affect who is counted as unemployed or outside the labor force. Because definitions were updated under the , data using the newer definitions is not fully comparable with data based on the 13th ICLS. You can read more about the definitions in this explainer by the ILO.

How is this data described by its producer - ILO?

Vulnerable employment is contributing family workers and own-account workers as a percentage of total employment.

Limitations and exceptions:

Data are drawn from labor force surveys and household surveys, supplemented by official estimates and censuses for a small group of countries. Due to differences in definitions and coverage across countries, there are limitations for comparing data across countries and over time even within a country. Estimates of women in employment are not comparable internationally, reflecting that demographic, social, legal, and cultural trends and norms determine whether women's activities are regarded as economic.

Statistical concept and methodology:

The status in employment distinguishes between two categories of the total employed: (a) wage and salaried workers (also known as employees); and (b) self-employed workers, with the subcategories: (i) self-employed workers with employees (employers), (ii) self-employed workers without employees (own-account workers), and (iii) members of producers' cooperatives and contributing family workers (also known as unpaid family workers). Vulnerable employment refers to the sum of (ii) own-account workers and (iii) contributing family workers.

The series is part of the "ILO modeled estimates database," including nationally reported observations and imputed data for countries with missing data, primarily to capture regional and global trends with consistent country coverage. Country-reported microdata is based mainly on nationally representative labor force surveys, with other sources (e.g., household surveys and population censuses) considering differences in the data source, the scope of coverage, methodology, and other country-specific factors. Country analysis requires caution where limited nationally reported data are available. A series of models are also applied to impute missing observations and make projections. However, imputed observations are not based on national data, are subject to high uncertainty, and should not be used for country comparisons or rankings. For more information: https://ilostat.ilo.org/resources/concepts-and-definitions/ilo-modelled-estimates/

Notes from original source:

Given the exceptional situation, including the scarcity of relevant data, the ILO modeled estimates and projections from 2020 onwards are subject to substantial uncertainty.

Share of workers in vulnerable employment
ILO
Share of employed population who are working as own-account workers (self-employed without staff), or contributing family workers (self-employed in a household business or farm).
Source
World Bank and International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT (2025) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
September 8, 2025
Next expected update
September 2026
Date range
1991–2023
Unit
%

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

World Bank and International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT – World Development Indicators

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates.

Retrieved on
September 8, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.VULN.ZS
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Bank, World Development Indicators database. Estimates are based on data obtained from International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT at https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/. Indicator SL.EMP.VULN.ZS (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.VULN.ZS). World Development Indicators - World Bank (2025). Accessed on 2025-09-08.

The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. It presents the most current and accurate global development data available, and includes national, regional and global estimates.

Retrieved on
September 8, 2025
Retrieved from
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.VULN.ZS
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Bank, World Development Indicators database. Estimates are based on data obtained from International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT at https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/. Indicator SL.EMP.VULN.ZS (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.VULN.ZS). World Development Indicators - World Bank (2025). Accessed on 2025-09-08.

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Citations

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To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Share of workers in vulnerable employment”. Our World in Data (2025). Data adapted from World Bank and International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20251110-102607/grapher/share-in-vulnerable-employment.html [online resource] (archived on November 10, 2025).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

World Bank and International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT (2025) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

World Bank and International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT (2025) – processed by Our World in Data. “Share of workers in vulnerable employment – ILO” [dataset]. World Bank and International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT, “World Development Indicators 122” [original data]. Retrieved December 5, 2025 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20251110-102607/grapher/share-in-vulnerable-employment.html (archived on November 10, 2025).