According to the 1981 population census, the labour force is defined as those working and looking for work. The population may be divided into six classes by occupation: landowners, cultivators, flock owners, traders, labourers and artisans. Among the landowners are Achakzai, Kakar, Tareen and Syeds. Most of them cultivate their land themselves or employ tenants and Bazgars. During recent years people have employed Afghan refugees as tenants. Flock owners are the autochthonous inhabitants, refugees and (nomads); Kakars, Tareens, Achakzai and Syeds are normally also engaged in trade and commerce.

 In the absence of specific district data for Killa Abdullah on labour force, it is not possible to provide time series on gender specific employment figures in different sectors. The labour force constitutes almost one fifth of the total population. The male and female labour force were 40.2 and 1.1% respectively. There is no evidence whatsoever, that women are involved as paid labourer in agriculture, livestock, mining, industries, retail trade and communication in the district.

 According to the latest available information (1993-94) the total number of employees in the private sector was 856. Out of them 697 (81.4%) were male workers while the percentage of child workers, was 18.6%. It is interesting to note that the number of females in the private sector is zero.

 The other important occupation group for which fresh data is available are government employees. Their number is 2,049, out of which 127 are female workers. It should be remembered that due to socio-cultural rigidities, females are not involved in any kind of economic activity except education, health and to some extent in handicraft. It is interesting to note that the major source of living for a vast majority of the population in tehsil Chaman is smuggling of goods to either side of the border. The reasons are given in detail in the following chapter (social organization).

 The major economic activities are trade and commerce, agriculture, horticulture, livestock, and transport. For these sectors no labour force survey is available.