Labourers in Afghanistan are securing employment for fewer than two days per week on average, according to a new World Food Programme (WFP) report, underscoring the country's deepening economic distress even as food markets remain relatively stable and the national currency holds steady. The findings, reported by local Afghan media on 23 June, paint a stark picture of livelihoods collapsing beneath the surface of apparent market calm.

Key Findings from the WFP Report

Unskilled workers in Afghanistan managed an average of just 1.9 days of employment per week — approximately 16 per cent below last year's level and below the three-year average, according to the WFP data. Daily wages averaged 309 Afghanis, a marginal improvement over the previous week but insufficient to offset the structural collapse in working hours.

The Afghan currency remained broadly stable at around 64.3 Afghanis per US dollar. However, several staple food items were more expensive compared to the same period last year, and the report flagged rising input costs for farmers — compounding pressure on both producers and consumers.

Why This Matters: Food Access vs. Food Affordability

The WFP report draws a critical distinction: the crisis facing Afghan households is not the availability of food but the ability to pay for it. Markets are functional and inflation has eased, yet the benefits have not translated into meaningful improvements in daily livelihoods for millions of Afghans who depend on casual labour. This is not a supply crisis — it is an income crisis.

Notably, this dynamic is consistent with broader patterns observed in post-conflict economies, where macroeconomic stabilisation often outpaces employment recovery by several years. Afghanistan's labour market has been structurally weakened since August 2021, and the WFP data suggests recovery remains distant.

Worsening Nutrition Crisis

The labour market findings arrive alongside a separate warning from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), issued on 16 June. OCHA cautioned that the nutrition crisis in Afghanistan is rapidly deteriorating in 2026, with wasting levels worsening across 26 of 34 provinces compared to 2025.

According to OCHA, 3.7 million children are expected to face severe malnutrition in 2026. The agency stressed that this deterioration is occurring before the peak wasting season — typically July to September — signalling an early and deepening crisis. OCHA called for urgent international funding to prevent irreversible harm, according to Afghanistan-based reports.

What Comes Next

With the peak hunger season still ahead and employment levels near multi-year lows, humanitarian agencies warn the situation could deteriorate further in the coming months. The combination of stagnant wages, reduced working days, rising food costs, and a looming malnutrition surge presents one of the most acute convergent crises Afghanistan has faced in recent years. International funding gaps remain a central concern for relief operations on the ground.