Towards Achieving Decent Employment and Economic Growth Through Intra-regional Trade in ECOWAS

Oluwarotimi Ayokunnu Owolabi (), Mercy Chidera Omeire (), Moyinoluwa Omorinsola Fasanmi (), Oluwagbemisola Ruth Ladapo (), Blossom Evaoghene Omojughare () and Chinyere Honour Umehruo ()
Additional contact information
Oluwarotimi Ayokunnu Owolabi: Covenant University, Department of Economics and Development Studies
Mercy Chidera Omeire: Covenant University, Department of Economics and Development Studies
Moyinoluwa Omorinsola Fasanmi: Covenant University, Department of Economics and Development Studies
Oluwagbemisola Ruth Ladapo: Covenant University, Department of Economics and Development Studies
Blossom Evaoghene Omojughare: Covenant University, Department of Economics and Development Studies
Chinyere Honour Umehruo: Covenant University, Department of Economics and Development Studies

A chapter in Economic Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa, Volume I, 2026, pp 231-258 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The quest for decent employment and economic growth that constitutes Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 remains pursued in developing countries globally, including the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which is a significant regional economic community in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, while efforts at promoting greater employment and boosting economic growth rates remain recognizable in ECOWAS countries, the potential for a significant boost in employment and growth remains where the ECOWAS countries engage in intra-regional trade, and is more so in light of the sizeable amount of trade that takes place between the ECOWAS countries. Based on the aforementioned, the present study, utilizing data for the period of 2005 to 2022 and engaging panel data techniques, assesses the individual roles of intra-regional trade and employment, as well as the intra-regional trade and employment interaction, in the intra-regional trade-growth relationship in a sample of eleven ECOWAS countries, and also that of a sub-classification of the ECOWAS countries into Anglophone and Francophone countries. The findings highlight considerable heterogeneity across the various samples of ECOWAS countries regarding the roles of intra-regional trade and employment level for growth on the one hand, and that of intra-regional trade interacting with employment level for growth on the other hand, giving rise to policy implications. Thus, ECOWAS countries may achieve SDG8 with intra-regional trade boosted in general that does not depend on whether member countries share a common language. Further, the findings highlight the compulsion for a comprehensive understanding of the intra-regional trade, employment, and economic growth relationship, for ECOWAS effectively harnessing its large intra-regional trade market for improving respective country fortunes in their bid for higher economic growth rates.

Keywords: Anglophone ECOWAS; Decent employment and economic growth; Francophone ECOWAS; Intra-regional trade; Partnership for the goals; Sustainable development goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
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:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-77821-6_8

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031778216

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-77821-6_8

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().