Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

services shares. 
In the 1990s, agriculture, particularly cotton production, 
constituted the largest share of GDP—over 30%. Since then, the government 
has adopted an industrialization strategy that facilitated transformation and 
a shift toward a market-based economy while ensuring self-sufficiency in 
energy and food. Between 1991 and 2018, the shares of modern industry and 
services in the country’s output and employment expanded, while the share 
of agriculture fell (Figure 3.9). The robust employment growth in services 
outpaced the growth in both industry and agriculture, leading to services 
accounting for the top share of employment. This is typical of a growing 
open economy, especially a resource-rich one (see, e.g., Anderson and
Ponnusamy 2018). 

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Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth
The biggest employer in the Uzbek economy is thus now the service sector, 
which employs 36% of the labor force and accounted for 32% of Uzbekistan’s 
GDP in 2018. The sector now accounts for almost 80% of all newly created 
jobs in the country. Also, the structure of the service sector is continually 
changing. For example, due to the tourism development program, the share 
of accommodation and food services in total employment increased from 1.1% 
in 2010 to 3.3% in 2016. Judging by these trends, a large proportion of jobs 
created in the labor market in the near future will be in services. A large number 
of the newly created jobs will require cognitive and noncognitive skills, which 
will benefit graduates who follow education paths in the appropriate fields.
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Figure 3.9 shows that while the industry sector adds more value to the economy 
than the agriculture sector, the latter still accounts for more employment. This 
implies higher output per worker in industry than in farming. Thus, the industry 
sector can play an important role in catalyzing growth, generating more high-
value jobs, and employing more skilled workers. Built on this potential, the 
government’s 2018 Government Employment Promotion Program focuses on 
generating more jobs in industry (Box 3.5).
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A separate strand of the literature argues that noncognitive skills are particularly valued in certain sectors 
(e.g. services). In addition, some recent evidence in the context of high-income countries suggests that 
employers value noncognitive abilities more than cognitive ability or independent thought (Ajwad et al. 
2014). 
GDP = gross domestic product
Source: World Bank. World Development Indicators. http://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-
development-indicators/ (accessed 7 August 2019).