Vocational Education, On-the-Job Training and Labour Market Integration of Young Workers in Urban West Africa

Christophe Nordman and Laure Pasquier-Doumer

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Abstract: Young people in Africa are confronted with many difficulties when it comes to their integration in the labour markets and their research for decent and productive jobs. Research on the links between formal education and vocational training and their economic returns are especially crucial in understanding inadequacy between labour supply and demand for young people. This paper aims to contribute to this needed diagnosis by presenting some evidence based on the 1-2-3 Surveys conducted in seven African countries, which provides a consistent and comparable picture of the situation of youth employment in urban labour markets in these countries. We provide some evidence that vocational education might be a good instrument for integrating the formal sector and that it is often more profitable than general education in terms of earnings and firm performance, especially at higher levels of schooling. Overall, young workers without any formal vocational education and training are the more disadvantaged in terms of working conditions, while workers who benefited from a traditional apprenticeship in a small firm occupy an intermediate position.

Keywords: Labour market; Youth; Vocational education; On-the-job training; West Africa; Marché du travail; Jeunes; Formation professionnelle; Formation sur le tas; Afrique de l’Ouest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01620253v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Vocational education, on-the-job training, and labour market integration of young workers in urban West Africa (2014)
Working Paper: Vocational Education, On-the-Job Training and Labour Market Integration of Young Workers in Urban West Africa (2012)
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