Youth Employment In Africa Research Articles

Young people not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) in Sub-Saharan Africa: Sustainable Development Target 8.6 missed and reset

ABSTRACT Sustainable Development Goal 8, Target 8.6, represents a direct commitment to improving the dramatic labour market situation of young people by substantially reducing the proportion of young people Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) by 2020. This deadline has now passed, and while progress has been made in most EU countries, the situation of young people categorized as NEET in Sub-Saharan Africa has worsened over the past ten years. In this paper, we review the existing literature on youth employment in Africa and analyse the reasons for stalled progress. We debunk five myths of youth unemployment and underemployment, which have hampered understanding and progress. These are that: (1) education and training systems are defective, (2) youth micro-entrepreneurship and self-employment offer a panacea, (3) the informal sector is part of the problem and not part of the solution, (4) care work equates to inactivity, and (5) the agricultural sector has little potential for job creation. We recommend more research on the supply side of the African labour markets to provide a more nuanced understanding of the structural barriers to youth market entry and call for a concerted international effort to battle the youth employment crisis through job creation.

Government's ban on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining, youth livelihoods and imagined futures in Ghana

Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) represents a vibrant sector that provides direct employment and income to many people particularly the youth. In Ghana, concerns about ASM related environmental challenges led the Ghana Media Coalition Against Galamsey to start the #StopGalamseyNow Campaign. This resulted in enormous pressure on the government to impose a ban on ASM in 2017. Drawing on data from interviews conducted with fifty-eight ASM workers in two mining districts in Ghana, this paper examines the effects of the ban on the livelihoods and imagined futures of young miners who were previously engaged in the sector and the ways they navigate their uncertain futures. What emerges strongly from our interviews with young people from a variety of backgrounds and experiences is that, while ASM is a key sector that allows young people to build their livelihoods (earn income, accumulate assets), the ban has fundamentally re-structured the landscape of opportunities, leading to both social and economic consequences for young people. The ban had meant that young people could not imagine a future of new beginnings and possibilities for improved life chances including continuing to accumulate asset, invest in residential plots and buildings, or finance the cost of migration of children abroad. Mobility and exploitation of 'near and distant opportunity spaces' through the support of social relations enable young people cope with hardships brought by the ban. These findings have important implications for policies seeking to promote youth employment in Africa.

Picking the Right Arrow for the Target: Modelling the Economic Impact of Remittance on Agribusinesss Entreprenuership and Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa

The consequences of conflictual views on modelling the economic impact of remittances on agribusiness entrepreneurship and economic growth, has been present for a long time in the economic literature, albeit in a somewhat scattered way. This has attracted wide-spread criticism for agribusiness inititaives and its failure to address rural unemployment within the context of youth participation in the global food markets. This paper provides a summary of the global evidence published in the thematic area of international migration-remittance and sustainable development with emphasis on the financialisation impact of remittance on agribusiness entreprenuership and economic growth. The paper selectively reviews over 100 documented cases that offer insights into the methodological approaches for empirical modelling of remittance studies around the world. The paper bridges different stands of literature in economic and business management sciences and exemplifies the new complementaries between remittance, agribusiness and supply chain developments. Much as the paper advances no particular theory for modelling the economic impact of remittances on agribusiness entreprenuership and growth, it clearly offers insights into picking the appropriate methodological approaches for empirical estimation of the net effects of remittances on agribusiness entrepreneurship and rural youth employment in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The paper pinpoints ample evidence and brings a case for use of randomized experimentation approaches in Sub-Saharan Africa prone to the vagaries of weather- shocks and climate change. The paper further elaborates the nexus between remittance and contemporary development themes of poverty reduction and inequality, investment and savings, labour supply participation and economic growth. The experimental evidence reported around the globe showed that remittances have positive effects on poverty reduction but negative ramifications for labour supply, education, and economic growth. The analysis made a startling discovery which demonstrated that although, remittances reduced labour supply participation in developing economies; it significantly increased consumption of luxury goods in migrant households and made no positive contribution whatsoever to economic growth. This sorepoint courts new attention on resolution of the dilemma of remittance on economic welfare and advances an immediate redress of the emerging crises of methodological misuse in Development economics. Specifically the paper finds penalties with choice of methodological approaches for modelling the economic impacts of remitance on agribusiness entrepreneurship and economic welfare and advocated the inculcation of political economy perspectives in order to intergrate the multidimensionality of the complicated linkages of remittance to agribusiness entrepreneurship, rural youth employment and sustainable economic growth.

Future aspirations of rural-urban young migrants in Accra, Ghana

ABSTRACT The futures that young people imagine for themselves should serve as a guidepost to youth employment programmes. Drawing on data from interviews conducted with 30 young migrants in Accra, this article examines the futures young migrants imagine for themselves and the ways they are working to realise their aspirations. Findings suggest that while the young migrants were engaged in some economic activities in the urban informal economy, they regarded these as a means to transit towards their imagined futures. They had divergent plans for the future, whether to further their education and gain professional salaried jobs, or establish their own small-scale businesses. Nonetheless, their limited financial resources and social networks may affect transition to these imaginary futures. Engagement in paid work, saving groups and leisure-based activities are key activities young migrants engage in efforts to reach their plans. These findings have important implications for policy seeking to promote youth employment in Africa.

The Impact of Quality Foundational Skills on Youth Employment in Africa: Does Institutional Quality Matter?

The Impact of Quality Foundational Skills on Youth Employment in Africa: Does Institutional Quality Matter?

Expanding youth employment in the Arab Region and Africa

The low level and adverse trends of youth employment in Africa and in the Middle East in the last decade are key driving factors of poverty, stress migration, frustration and political instability. There needs to be a sense of urgency to change the situation. How can employment, especially for youth, be created rapidly in these regions? The paper discusses different policies for the generation of mass employment of both skilled and unskilled labor. The sectoral priorities differ within the regions, with rural and agricultural jobs playing a more significant role in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Both SSA and the Arab region show potentials for large scale public works programs. Un-orthodox economic policy actions are called for due to the pressing nature of the youth unemployment situation. These policies should aim at generating productive employment improving skills, and can be implemented both at the central and at the local level. Countries should be responsible for ownership, accountability and self-monitoring of policies and programs. Large scale international funding support should be considered when planning, implementation and supervision are actually credible and results oriented.

Expanding Youth Employment in the Arab Region and Africa

The low level and adverse trends of youth employment in Africa and in the Middle East in the last decade are key driving factors of poverty, stress migration, frustration and political instability. There needs to be a sense of urgency to change the situation. How can employment, especially for youth, be created rapidly in these regions? The paper discusses different policies for the generation of mass employment of both skilled and unskilled labor. The sectoral priorities differ within the regions, with rural and agricultural jobs playing a more significant role in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Both SSA and the Arab region show potentials for largescale public works programs. Un-orthodox economic policy actions are called for due to the pressing nature of the youth unemployment situation. These policies should aim at generating productive employment improving skills, and can be implemented both at the central and at the local level. Countries should be responsible for ownership, accountability and self-monitoring of policies and programs. Large scale international funding support should be considered when planning, implementation and supervision are actually credible and results oriented.

Analysis of Gender Equality in Youth Employment in Africa

AbstractThis paper empirically studies the key drivers of gender equality in youth employment over the period, 1991 and 2011. Using the pooled OLS method with year, sub‐regional, and oil fixed‐effects, our results suggest that for Africa as a whole and Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA), quadratic levels of real per capita GDP, gender equality in primary education, trade openness, FDI inflows, political globalization, economic growth, urbanization, female population, and being a net oil‐exporting country are significantly positively associated with gender equality in youth employment. The level of real GDP per capita, equality in secondary education, gross domestic investment, access to telephone, youth unemployment, and Muslim faith tend to lower it. Government consumption expenditure also lowers it in SSA. However, North Africa is different: the level of real GDP per capita, gender equality in secondary education, and government consumption expenditure tend to increase gender equality in youth employment, while being an oil‐exporting country and youth unemployment tend to lower it.

Youth Employment in Africa: New Evidence and Policies from Swaziland

Drawing on the 2007 and 2010 Swaziland Labor Force Surveys, this paper provides first systematic evidence on recent youth employment challenges in Swaziland, a small, land-locked, middle-income country with one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Africa. The paper first documents the various labor market disadvantages faced by the Swazi youth, such as high unemployment and discouragement, and how they changed from 2007 to 2010. A multinomial logit regression analysis is then carried out to analyze the socio-economic drivers of the unfavorable youth labor market outcomes on the supply side. Since many of the factors that can unlock the employment potential of the Swazi youth are on the demand side of the labor market, the paper examines the barriers to job creation and youth entrepreneurship. It concludes with experiences of other countries that could inform design of more effective interventions for youth employment in Swaziland.

Characteristics and Macroeconomic Determinants of Youth Employment in Africa

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to present the characteristics of youth employment in Africa as well as investigate its macroeconomic determinants, with a view to proffering some solutions. Our empirical estimates, using available cross‐sectional data over the period 1991–2009 show that a nation's domestic investment rate is found to be positively and significantly associated with youth employment in the overall Africa and sub‐Saharan estimations. However, domestic investment rate is negatively and significantly associated with youth employment in North Africa. Government consumption expenditures negatively and significantly affect youth employment in sub‐Saharan Africa. Rising inflation is negatively and significantly associated with youth employment in North Africa. The level of real GDP per capita has a negative and statistically significant effect in both the overall Africa and North Africa youth employment. The quadratic term of real GDP per capita is positive in sign and significant only in the youth employment estimation for the whole of Africa. We find that real GDP growth positively and significantly affects youth employment in the overall Africa, sub‐Saharan and North Africa estimations. Other important variables considered are globalization indicators (FDI and trade openness), credit to the private sector, ICT infrastructure, education, demographic factors, institutionalized democracy, time trend, net oil‐exporting/importing country, and regional dummies. Key policy implications include increased productive domestic investment; promoting government expenditure effectiveness; reforming the fiscal systems for consolidation by all levels of government; effective regulation of FDI for domestic job creation; improvements in the diversification, competitiveness and value addition of African export commodities; encouragement of entrepreneurship and access to financing for the youth; greater productive infrastructure development; up‐skilling, better training and education for the low‐skilled workforce; the promotion of effective democracy that will design policies friendly to youth job creation; and efficient management of oil and other natural resources throughout the value chain.

Youth Employment in Africa: New Evidence and Policies from Swaziland

Drawing on the 2007 and 2010 Swaziland Labor Force Surveys, this paper provides first systematic evidence on recent youth employment challenges in Swaziland, a small, land-locked, middle-income country with one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Africa. The paper first documents the various labor market disadvantages faced by the Swazi youth, such as high unemployment and discouragement, and how they changed from 2007 to 2010. A multinomial logit regression analysis is then carried out to analyze the socio-economic drivers of the unfavorable youth labor market outcomes on the supply side. Since many of the factors that can unlock the employment potential of the Swazi youth are on the demand side of the labor market, the paper examines the barriers to job creation and youth entrepreneurship. It concludes with experiences of other countries that could inform design of more effective interventions for youth employment in Swaziland.

Future Forward: Innovations for Youth Employment in Africa

Future Forward: Innovations for Youth Employment in Africa

Gender Inequalities and Economic Growth: A Longitudinal Evaluation

This longitudinal evaluation of gender inequalities and economic growth addresses key questions in the evolving debate over the character of gender differentiation and the goals of womens empowerment. These questions include: 1) whether the impact of strategies of economic growth served to enhance or undermine the status of women; 2) whether changes in the status of women were accompanied by significant changes in gender inequality; and 3) the implications for existing debates. Section I reviews several sets of literature pertinent to the questions using three general approaches: modernization-neoclassical women in development and gender and development. Section II presents the data and methods used in the evaluation. The research assessed the contending interpretations reviewed in the first section by combining another set of cross-sectional and longitudinal data on womens status and inequalities between men and women with other existing indicators. Section III discusses the results in the following order: 1) cross-sectional patterns in womens status; 2) trends in womens status; 3) cross-sectional patterns in inequality between men and women; 4) trends in inequality between men and women; and 5) conclusion. Finally section IV presents an overall discussion of the findings of the whole longitudinal evaluation.