The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Education

Abstract

ABSTRACT The heat of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) in the form of automated technologies in industrial production processes is on the global world. This has raised worries regarding the potential impact of the 4IR particularly on the future of jobs in developing countries. The study investigates the impact of the 4IR on industry labor employment, with particular emphasis on the role of tertiary education in SSA from 2000 to 2018. Due to the dearth of adequate data relating to the elements of 4IR such as robotics, internet of things (IoT), and cloud technologies, the study is benchmarked on the technology achievement of SSA countries, tertiary education attainment, and some elements of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) like mobile phone technology and internet densities. The study employed instrumental variable regression, within the framework of the System GMM estimator, covering the 48 SSA countries. The result shows that technology achievement index (TAI), technology, mobile, mobile phone technology, and education exert a positive effect on industry labor employment in SSA. This suggests that advancement in the elements of 4IR will eventually bring about improvement in the level of industry labor employment. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the governments of SSA countries should embark on structural reforms of the educational system as well as massive investment in ICT penetration and diffusion. These efforts will produce digital manpower to fit into the new job environment while offsetting the immediate job losses occasioned by the 4IR