Labour force
Labour force growth trends are determined by changes in population structure and participation rates. The growth of the labour force in the 1990s  slowed significantly in the developed regions and China but remain fairly stable in the developing regions. For the world as a whole, the average annual rate of labour force increase has declined dramatically to 1.5 per cent during the period from 1990 to 2000. This compares with 2. 1 per cent during the period from 1970 to 1980 and 1.9 per cent between 1980 and 1990. The average annual increase declined slightly from 41 million in the 1980s to 39 million in the 1990s; more than 35 million of the increase occured in the developing countries. An important policy question for the 21st century is whether growth in the demand for labour will be able to absorb this increasing supply.
About 58 per cent of the world's population aged 10 and over in 1980 were members of the labour force, including those without jobs who were looking for employment; overall, the participation rate was 73 per cent among males and 43 per cent among females. The rates varied significantly among regions, especially for females, ranging from about 60 per cent in the centrally planned economies to about 10 per cent in North Africa and Western Asia.
Persons aged 25 to 59 comprised 65 per cent of the world labour force in 1985 and accounted for virtually all of the labour force increase in the 1990s. That group is projected to increase in the into the 21st century at the same rate or higher than in the 1980s in most regions, except for Latin America where the annual growth rate is projected to decline from 3.2 to 2.9 per cent. The projected annual rates of increase for other regions are between 2.7 for the developing countries in Asia and 3.0 per cent for Africa. The increased concentration of the labour force in the group will tend to increase overall labour productivity, because this group is more experienced, on average, than the labour force under 25 years of age.
The proportion of the labour force in the 10 to 14 age group is negligible for the developed regions but averages 5 per cent in the developing regions, reaching 7.9 per cent in Africa. This proportion is in sharp decline in every region of the world except for Africa, and the trend is projected to continue in the 21st century.
Decelerating growth of the number of youth (aged 15 to 24) in the labour force will be a new phenomenon in in several regions of the world. There will be absolute declines in some countries. These changes will be caused primarily by declines in the size of the youth population and also by its declining rate of labour force participation. Based on the projections of labour force participation made by the International Labour Office,  the number of youth in the labour force in East Asia (including Japan and China) will decline at an annual rate of 3 per cent; there was a positive growth rate of 2.3 per cent in the 1980s. In southern Asia (including Western Asia and Southeastern Asia), the annual growth rate will fall from 2 per cent in the 1980s to about 1 per cent in 2010. The youth labour force in the more developed regions will decline 0.2 per cent per year, compared with an annual increase of 1.0 per cent in the 1980s. Overall, the total number of youth in the world labour force will grow much more slowly in the first decade of the 21st century (at an average rate of 0.5 per cent) than the1.1 per cent rate of the 1980s.
The elderly labour force, aged 60 years or older, comprises 5.4 and 5.0 per cent of the total labour force in the developed and the developing regions respectively. Its projected rates of annual increase are relatively modest: 1.2 per cent for Latin America, 1.5 per cent for the developed regions, 1.7 per cent for Asia, and 2 per cent for Africa.
In both developed and developing regions, the percentage of women in the economically active population has increased since 1950; women represented 36.5 per cent of the world's labour force in 1985. Relatively little change is expected in women's average labour force participation rate in most regions. Moderate increases in participation by middle-aged and older women in some regions will be offset by lower participation by younger women, as they spend more years in full-time education. However, the projected trends do not take into account possible policy changes. Some changes with a large potential impact are already visible in 1988: legal equality has been achieved in many countries, and more affirmative actions favouring women's participation are being implemented. If encouraged by further policy initiatives, women's overall economic participation may well be greater than currently projected.