AFRICA’S EVOLVING EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE

F. Kwame Yeboah and Thomas Jayne ()

No 259511, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers from Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP)

Abstract: Using nationally representative, multi-year survey data for nine African countries, this study documents trends in the sectoral composition of Africa’s work force. The study highlights differences in sectoral employment trends by age category, gender, and rural vs. urban areas. By analyzing sectoral employment shifts over the past decade, we can gain insights about the strength and robustness of economic transformation processes in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. While substantial differences across countries warrant caution against overgeneralization, the last decade has witnessed a sharp increase in the rate at which Africans are exiting farming in favor of off-farm activities. Today, farming accounts for 50 to 70% of the total number of jobs recorded among Africa’s working-age population, down from 70 to 80% just 10 years ago. These employment shifts signify that economic transformation is clearly underway in much of the region. In some countries, however, the labor force is moving out of farming very slowly. Countries experiencing the most rapid labor force exit out of farming over the past decade tend to have achieved relatively strong agricultural productivity growth since 2000.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Food Security and Poverty; International Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31
Date: 2016-10-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/259511/files/FSP%20Research%20Paper%2031.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Africa’s Evolving Employment Structure (2016)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:miffrp:259511

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.259511

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers from Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().