The Scramble for Africans: Demography, Globalisation and Africa’s Informal Labour Markets

Kate Meagher

Journal of Development Studies, 2016, vol. 52, issue 4, 483-497

Abstract: Images of an 'African Boom' have presented us with labour markets full of dynamic potential: a declining dependency ratio; low levels of unemployment; and a vibrant middle class. This buoyant view of African labour markets conceals a less encouraging reality of catastrophic youth unemployment and expanding informality. How has the continent known for the world's highest share of informal labour become a beacon of prosperity? This article will explore the reality beneath the outbreak of informal economic optimism, and consider why African labour markets are being painted in such rosy colours.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2015.1126253

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