Labor market in Sudan

Agriculture remains central to Sudan's labor market, accounting for about 40.4% of the workforce in available FAO estimates and supporting food or income for roughly 65% of the population. Work is often seasonal and depends on security, weather, inputs, transport and functioning markets. Household enterprises, livestock keeping, small-scale trade, transport, construction, processing, mining, public employment and humanitarian or NGO work also shape local opportunities. Formal private and public wage employment covers a narrower part of the workforce, while informal and precarious work is widespread. The war that began on 15 April 2023 caused major economic disruption. Real GDP fell by an estimated 29.4% in 2023 and 14% in 2024, followed by an estimated 3.1% increase in 2025 from a low base. Inflation reached about 170% in 2024. The share of full-time wage work fell from 33% before the war to 16% in the available comparison. A World Bank unemployment estimate series places unemployment at 32% in 2022 and 47% in 2024, but definitions and methods differ between sources, so these figures should not be treated as a precise current national rate. Conditions differ sharply between wilayas and localities. Khartoum has suffered extensive damage to infrastructure and services. Darfur and Kordofan face severe security, displacement and market barriers. Al Jazirah, Sennar, River Nile, Kassala and Gedaref contain agricultural, host-community and return areas, but access and demand vary by locality. There is no reliable current national ranking of the best regions for work. People find work through direct contact with employers, personal networks, local intermediaries, social media, NGO and UN vacancy notices, and some private recruitment agencies. The Labour Code 1997 covers employment agencies, recruitment, apprenticeships, worker registration, contracts, wages, working time, leave, termination and labor disputes. The Civil Service Selection Commission publishes public-sector vacancies, and a unified government-employment platform was announced in 2025, but there is no reliable evidence of a fully operational nationwide public matching service that functions throughout the conflict. Formal access can depend on legal status, qualifications, documents and employer or authority requirements. In practice, security, gender, age, displacement, location, mobility, capital, phone access, internet access and personal networks also affect opportunities. Women and young people are overrepresented in informal and precarious work. Internally displaced people and refugees may face additional document, work-authorization, protection and mobility barriers. Education, TVET, apprenticeships, short courses, learning by doing, entrepreneurship support, savings groups known as VSLAs and start-up kits can improve access, but interrupted education, skills mismatch and missing documents often limit recognition and progression. Nominal pay is unstable because of inflation, currency depreciation, supply disruptions and regional price differences. A stated wage may therefore lose purchasing power quickly. Statutory rules on pay, working time, leave and termination exist, but enforcement depends heavily on security and sector. The Labour Code's coverage excludes or treats separately civil servants, armed forces, domestic workers, agricultural workers, family members of an employer and casual workers. Transport, communications, documents, relocation and working capital can add substantial costs, while seasonal work and training or recruitment periods vary by program and sector. Displacement has moved both workers and demand between locations. IOM DTM reported about 11.58 million internally displaced people at the January 2025 peak, about 8.94 million remaining internally displaced in April 2026 and about 3.99 million returnees. Cross-border movement has mainly involved Egypt, Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Libya. Work authorization, documents, protection and exploitation risks vary by destination. Sudan's labor market should therefore be assessed through the concrete sector, locality, security situation, legal status, skills and available way of finding work rather than through one national average.