Young adults and labor markets in Africa
Bandiera, O.
, Elsayed, A., Smurra, A. & Zipfel, C.
(2022).
Young adults and labor markets in Africa.
Journal of Economic Perspectives,
36(1), 81 - 100.
https://doi.org/10.1257/JEP.36.1.81
, Elsayed, A., Smurra, A. & Zipfel, C.
(2022).
Young adults and labor markets in Africa.
Journal of Economic Perspectives,
36(1), 81 - 100.
https://doi.org/10.1257/JEP.36.1.81
Every year, millions of young adults join the labor market in Africa. This paper harmonizes surveys and censuses from 68 low- and middle-income countries to compare their job prospects to those of their counterparts in other low-income regions. We show that employment rates are similar at similar levels of development but that young adults in Africa are less likely to have a salaried job, especially when the size of their cohort is large. Building on existing evidence on the impacts of interventions targeting both the demand and supply sides of the labor market, we discuss policy priorities for boosting the growth of salaried job creation in the region.
Explore Further
- D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
- J13 - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- J23 - Employment Determination; Job Creation; Demand for Labor; Self-Employment
- J31 - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials by Skill, Training, Occupation, etc.
- O15 - Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
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Bandiera, O., Elsayed, A., Smurra, A. & Zipfel, C.
(2022).
Data and Code for: Youths, Jobs and the Development of Africa.
[Dataset]. OpenICPSR.
https://doi.org/10.3886/e154661