Unemployment in Developing Countries: New Light on an Old Problem

David Turnham and Deniz Eröcal

No 22, OECD Development Centre Working Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: In the 1960s and 1970s a number of views were formed about unemployment in developing countries, which have remained largely accepted since then. The views can be summarized as three propositions: a) the poor cannot afford to become unemployed; b) labour markets in developing countries are always sufficiently open and flexible for work to be found, so that c) unemployment is a reflection of the search for jobs with high earnings on the part of those able to finance search costs. In contrast, the conclusions of this review are that the poor can be and are increasingly to be found in large numbers among the unemployed; many young people have great difficulty in finding any sort of work, especially regular work; unemployment is high and appears to have been rising over the past 20 years. In sum, in the light of this review of evidence, the conventional wisdom described in the so-called luxury unemployment hypothesis is seriously flawed and should be set aside. Les années 60 et 70 ont vu naître, dans les pays en développement, nombre d'idées sur le chômage, qui, depuis lors, restent largement admises. Trois propositions en résument le contenu : a) les pauvres ne peuvent pas se permettre de devenir chômeurs ; b) le marché du travail dans les pays en développement est toujours suffisamment ouvert et flexible pour qu'on y trouve du travail ; c) de ce fait, le chômage provient de la recherche d'emplois à hauts salaires de la part des couches sociales capables de financer le coût de leur quête de travail. Contrairement aux idées reçues, cette étude conclut que ce sont les pauvres qui figurent, et ce, de façon croissante, parmi les chômeurs ; quantité de jeunes éprouvent de grandes difficultés à trouver quelque travail que ce soit, surtout un emploi régulier ; le chômage est élevé et n'a cessé de progresser au cours des vingt dernières années. L'hypothèse d'un chômage qu'on pourrait appeler "de luxe" se révèle donc insuffisante, voire ...

Date: 1990-07-01
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