Composition of female workforce for the women who work, it is relevant to consider their employment type. In rural areas, around 40 percent of working women are unpaid helpers in household enterprises, and another 30 percent are casual labourers, engaged in non-public work. In comparison, only 3 percent of the female workforce is engaged in public works such as those sanctioned by MGNREGA, indicating the largely precarious nature of casual work women perform in rural areas. The composition of the female workforce is different in urban areas, where more than half of the working women are regular or salaried workers. The number of self-employed women in the country has decreased from 7.2 crore in 2011-12 to 5.54 crore in 2017-18. Women casual labourers have decreased from 3.97 crore in 2011-12 to 2.86 crore, while the share of women employers has remained constant at 0.6 per cent over the years. The decline of women in the rural workforce has been attributed, among other things, to the decline in subsidiary activities, from 25 per cent in 2004-5 to 5.7 per cent in 2017-18.