Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

Figure 3.9: Sectoral Shares of GDP and Employment, Uzbekistan, 
1991–2018
Agriculture
a. GDP Value-added Share
(% of GDP)
b. Employment Share
(% of total employment)
Industry
Services
1993
1991
1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
0
20
40
60
80
100
1993
1991
1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017
0
20
40
60
80
100

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Unlocking the Potential for Labor Productivity Growth
The government’s reform program continues to focus on liberalizing the 
economy and contains relevant socioeconomic policies—such as growth of 
the private sector and a reduced role of state enterprises in rural production, 
manufacturing, trade, and finance. The aim is to ensure a more favorable 
investment and business climate. Employment in the nonstate sector has 
been increasing continually, from 77.2% in 2005 to 82.7% in 2017 (Figure 
3.10). Industry and construction show the largest growth in employment, by 
3% in 2017 compared to 2015. At the same time, growth in employment in 
agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (2.3%) is higher than that in services (1.5%). 
The share of people employed in SMEs increased in 2017 to 78.3% from 77.9% 
in 2015 (Uzbekistan Statistics 2018). 
The sectoral distribution of SMEs is unchanged since 2003. 
About 60% 
of small businesses work in services and the rest are in agriculture, industry, 
and construction. There have been no overall changes in the employment 
structure of SMEs by sector. Agriculture, industry, and construction employ 
about 60% of the total small business labor force, and SMEs in the service 
sector provide jobs to the remaining 40%.