Employee compensation as share of government spending in East Timor
East Timor: Employee compensation as share of government spending was 14.7% in 2022. ▲ Rising
Employee compensation as share of government spending in East Timor, 2010–2022
Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF) Government Finance Statistics, via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in % of expense.
Analysis
East Timor recorded 14.7% for employee compensation as share of government spending in 2022. That is the lowest value across all 13 years on record.
The figure is down 14.0% on the previous year and down 10.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, employee compensation as share of government spending in East Timor peaked at 21.8% in 2017 and was at its lowest, 14.7%, in 2022.
East Timor ranks 120th of 155 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 13 years of available data.
Employee compensation as share of government spending in East Timor, year by year
| Year | % of expense | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 14.8% | — |
| 2011 | 18.0% | +22.0% |
| 2012 | 16.4% | -9.0% |
| 2013 | 17.0% | +3.8% |
| 2014 | 17.7% | +4.1% |
| 2015 | 16.8% | -5.1% |
| 2016 | 16.3% | -3.0% |
| 2017 | 21.8% | +34.1% |
| 2018 | 21.1% | -3.1% |
| 2019 | 21.3% | +0.9% |
| 2020 | 19.5% | -8.4% |
| 2021 | 17.1% | -12.5% |
| 2022 | 14.7% | -14.0% |
East Timor compared with similar countries
- East Timor's 14.7% is below the median for lower middle income countries, which is 31.8%, 46% of the median. (36 countries reporting)
- East Timor's 14.7% is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 29.6%, 50% of the median. (25 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 18.1% | 14.8% | 21.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 17.1% | 14.7% | 19.5% | 3 |
Countries ranked near East Timor
More work & labour data for East Timor
- Persons outside the labour force (ILO modelled estimates) 321 (2027)
- Labour force participation rate (ILO modelled estimates) 67.53 (2027)
- Labour force (ILO modelled estimates) 667.78 (2027)
- Unemployment rate (ILO modelled estimates) 1.77 (2027)
- Labour dependency ratio 1.22 (2027)
- Output per worker, GDP constant 2021 international $ at PPP 11,687 (2027)
- Output per worker, GDP constant 2015 US $ 3,450 (2027)
- Employment-to-population ratio (ILO modelled estimates) 66.34 (2027)
- Persons outside the labour force (ILO modelled estimates) (15+) 1.18 % change on previous year (2027)
- Labour force (ILO modelled estimates) (15+), annual growth rate 2.55 % change on previous year (2027)
Frequently asked questions
- What is employee compensation as share of government spending in East Timor?
- Employee compensation as share of government spending in East Timor was 14.7% in 2022, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) Government Finance Statistics, via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest employee compensation as share of government spending recorded in East Timor?
- The highest recorded value was 21.8% in 2017.
- What is the lowest employee compensation as share of government spending recorded in East Timor?
- The lowest recorded value was 14.7% in 2022.
- How does East Timor rank for employee compensation as share of government spending?
- East Timor ranks 120th out of 155 countries with data for 2022.
- Is employee compensation as share of government spending rising or falling in East Timor?
- Over the last ten years it is down 10.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this East Timor data come from?
- The figures come from International Monetary Fund (IMF) Government Finance Statistics, via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Employee compensation as share of government spending. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
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CSV · JSON — 13 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Employee compensation includes wages, in-kind payments, and government contributions to social insurance schemes such as social security and pensions.