This factsheet sets out headline findings on work and family lives from Round 7 of the Young Lives survey in Ethiopia, carried out in 2023–24 when the Younger Cohort was 22 years old and the Older Cohort was 29.  It outlines changes in education and learning over time by comparing the Younger Cohort at age 22 with the Older Cohort at the same age in 2016, and exploring the Younger Cohort's progression from age 15 to 22.  The headlines on work and family lives in Ethiopia are: 

• The proportion of the Younger Cohort not in employment, education or training (NEET) at age 22 was 16%, 9 percentage points higher than the Older Cohort at the same age in 2016 (7%).
• Most young people who are working are engaged in poor-quality jobs, without a written contract and working long hours.
• Compared to other regions, more young people born in Tigray, a region significantly affected by the armed conflict, are employed (64%), but only 3% have a formal written contract.
• There is a gender employment gap with more men than women employed. In contrast, young women spend 3.2 hours more per day on unpaid care work than men.
• Women are more likely to be married and/or have a child at age 22 than men at the same age.
• Early-life inequalities predict employment, marital and fertility outcomes at age 22.

This factsheet is one of a series sharing headline findings from Round 7.  In addition to work and family lives, there are factsheets on health, nutrition and well-being, and education and learning in Ethiopia, India and Peru.  You can access all the factsheets on our publications page.