million as actively employed. Approximately 30 percent of the workforce was female. Unemployment Unemployment figures were affected by the severe drought that spread throughout Sudan in the 1980s. In 1983–84, for example, several million people migrated from the worst-hit areas in both Western and Eastern Sudan to Khartoum and other urban areas along the Nile. Many remained in these areas once the drought had eased, living in shantytowns and contributing to unemployment, underemployment, or employment in the informal sector in the cities. In addition, more than 2 million people from the South migrated to the North over the years, as a result of the civil war and famines in these areas. In 2009 the government estimated unemployment at about 20 percent, perhaps not an accurate figure, because a large proportion of Sudanese engaged in small-scale and subsistence agriculture. Labor force by sector Agriculture was formerly the predominant activity in Sudan, although its share of the labor force gradually declined as other sectors of economic activity expanded. In the 1955–56 census, almost 86 percent of those then considered as part of the workforce were involved in agriculture, livestock raising, forestry, fisheries, or hunting. The ILO estimated that by 1998, the figure had declined to 70–80 percent. By 2008 the government claimed that the percentage was significantly lower. The services sector, which included a government workforce that grew about 10 percent a year in the 1970s, emerged as the second largest area of activity, encompassing an estimated 13–22 percent of those economically active in 1998, compared with 4.6 percent in 1955–56. The industry sector, including manufacturing, mining, electric power, and construction, accounted for 7–9 percent during 1998, compared to 5.6 percent in 1955–56. The proportions of the labor force in each of these sectors undoubtedly changed after the estimates were made in 1998, as the relative importance of these sectors altered in the succeeding years. It was difficult to determine the extent of the changes, however, as despite the oil sector's great importance, it did not directly employ many people. Its impact on employment occurred as a result of the increased spending allowed to the government, which created new jobs, often in the public sector. Child labor The minimum working age in the early 2000s was 18 in theory; however, the law was not enforced, and some 27 percent of Sudanese children aged 10 to 14 were estimated to be in the