scholarly journals Work and Rural Livelihoods: The Micro Dynamics of Africa’s ‘Youth Employment Crisis’

Author(s):  
Marco Carreras ◽  
James Sumberg ◽  
Amrita Saha

Abstract While it is widely accepted that Africa is experiencing a youth employment crisis, the nature of the crisis is disputed. In relation to rural youth, the crisis is variously framed in term so unemployment, underemployment, missing jobs, a lack of decent work, waithood and mixed or diverse livelihoods; with each framing pointing toward a different response. We look more closely at how young people engage with the labour market using a small, high-frequency dataset that includes activities of 233 individuals aged 18–24 years in rural areas of Ghana and Uganda. Specifically, we describe four dimensions of their work (its nature, frequency, steadiness and amount), analyse relationships between these dimensions, and link them with characteristics of the study participants. We conclude that in the early phases of livelihood building non-domestic work activities of young people are multi-faceted, context and seasonally specific, and highly gendered. This reflects, in part, different priorities given to education, domestic work, childbearing and social relations relative to economic activities. This study highlights the need for a better understanding of the various factors—including individual priorities—that come into play in the early phases of livelihood building, and their implications for when and how young people engage with non-domestic work.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (87) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ksenia Bondarevskaya ◽  
◽  
Mariia Kalinina ◽  
Mariia Septa ◽  
◽  
...  

The article considers the main trends of youth employment in the labor market in modern realities. As a result of the study, a statistic alanalysis of economic and social indicators for young people in Ukraine and the relationship with world indicators was conducted. The main recommendations for an effective national policy on this issue were also made. The most important factors influencing youth employment are the state, education and labor market conditions. It is the balance of these factors that will solve the problem of youth employment. Among the main causes of youth unemployment are the following: the growth in the total number of unemployed; the bankruptcy of a significant part of public and private enterprises; the focus of industrial enterprises on self-preservation and survival, rather than the development and expansion of production; the lack of young people with sufficient experience, in connection with which they are finally hired in the presence of vacancies, and the first to reduce when production is reduced; insufficient development of career guidance work with young people in the senior classes of the school; the increase in the structure of labor supply of the share of persons who do not have professions (foreign citizens) and decrease in the prestige of working professions; weak interest of employers in advanced training and retraining of working professionals. The ways of effectively solving this issue are: reforming the education system, encouraging young people to find employment at the educational stage, and providing benefits to enterprises that employ young people. Attention should also be paid to student internships. The other possible way to overcome the problem is studying the experience of other countries. The problem of youth employment is becoming a challenge for the economies of many countries. It is common not only in Eastern Europe, but also in many developing countries. Young people are a vulnerable category of the workforce due to a large set of factors, including: incorrectly chosen specialty, lack of work experience, inflated demands of young people for the future workplace. If you do not pay enough attention to this problem, it can cause many negative consequences. It should be noted that the UN Sustainable Development Goals include the promotion of progressive, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, including young people.


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 546
Author(s):  
Paulina Rodríguez-Díaz ◽  
Rocío Almuna ◽  
Carla Marchant ◽  
Sally Heinz ◽  
Roxana Lebuy ◽  
...  

Rural livelihoods are under threat, not only from climate change and soil erosion but also because young people in rural areas are increasingly moving to urbanized areas, seeking employment and education opportunities. In the Valparaiso region of Chile, megadrought, soil degradation, and industrialization are driving young people to leave agricultural and livestock activities. In this study, our main objective was to identify the factors influencing young people living in two rural agricultural communities (Valle Hermoso and La Vega). We conducted 90 online surveys of young people aged 13–24 to evaluate their interest in living in the countryside (ILC). We assessed the effect of community satisfaction, connectedness to nature, and social valuation of rural livelihoods on the ILC. The results show that young people were more likely to stay living in the countryside when they felt satisfied and safe in their community, felt a connection with nature, and were surrounded by people who enjoyed the countryside. These results highlight the relevance of promoting place attachment and the feeling of belonging within the rural community. Chilean rural management and local policies need to focus on rural youth and highlight the opportunities that the countryside provides for them.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 68-78
Author(s):  
Maria ILINA ◽  
◽  
Yulia SHPYLIOVA ◽  

Low standards of people’s living and economic depression in rural areas in Ukraine make it difficult to achieve the systemic integrity of economic, social and environmental components of the sustainable development. The imbalance between these components causes worsening of the environmental harms and deteriorates conditions for the human capital’s reproduction. The purpose of the article is to substantiate with theoretical and practical means the content and structure of social and ecological imperatives, which are represented as norms and standards relating to economic activities aiming to improve the policy of natural resources use and protect the ecosystem’s integrity of the territories. Economic imperatives reflect a set of rules applied to all economic entities operating within the current regulatory framework. It takes into account various factors and immanent actions. Key challenges, which are most urgent for a society at a certain time and form guidelines for solving problems of social relations and interactions, determine structure and content of social imperatives. Ecological imperatives regulate anthropogenic activity formally and informally and cause changes in the natural environment. They are dynamic and can vary depending on the level of the development of a society, its technologies, welfare, and institutional framework. Laws and principles of the development, summarized in the form of the imperatives, outline the target benchmarks and national priorities on modernization of the economy and improvement of living standards. Spatial differentiation of the territories takes into account their proximity to urban centers, the degree of economic capacity, the availability of social infrastructure of the proper quality, and meeting environmental standards. One more significant parameter is the availability of assets, which are defined as a set of resources of a territory, the potential and opportunities for their use. The achievement of the national priorities in Ukraine currently is complicated with inefficient use of territorial assets. Social and ecological imperatives are the solid value and normative ground for the development of local policy. One of its obvious steps is the mutually linked differentiation of the priorities, types of the territories and available assets of them.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Chamberlin ◽  
James Sumberg

Rural economic transformations in Africa are generating new opportunities to engage with agricultural value chains. However, many young people are said to be locked out of such opportunities because of limited access to farmland, which pushes them out of agriculture and rural areas, and/or hinders their autonomy. This framing of the ‘land problem’ imperfectly reflects rural young people’s livelihoods in much of sub-Saharan Africa, and therefore does not provide a solid basis for policy. Policy-relevant discussions must consider the diversity of rural contexts, broader land dynamics and more nuanced depictions of youth engagement with the rural economy.


Author(s):  
T. Gurgula ◽  
Yu. Ledovska

Problem setting. The article examines the possibilities of providing employment for young people through the activities of public communities. An environment that will allow young people to develop themselves in the communities where they were born, live and plan to stay.Recent research and publications analysis. Youth employment is very closely linked to the general employment situation. However, it has its own dimensions and problems that require specific measures. Domestic scholars, for instance, Yu. Palahniuk, O. Shtym, G. Koval, Y. Makogon paid considerable attention to the European experience of youth employment policy, and G. Koval, M. Karpulenko, Y. Hetmanenko studied the state youth policy in general. Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The article analyzes the typical challenges of youth employment: unemployment, going abroad; an insufficient level of qualification and opportunities to involve young people through the cooperation of educational institutions and opportunities to involve young people in cooperation of educational institutions; non-formal education; participation in local community self-government. As a result of the research, it is proposed to develop an effective state youth policy in ensuring youth employment in small communities through the development of youth entrepreneurship; activation of youth and involvement in community activities, inclusion of youth in councils and committees. Therefore, the object of study is youth employment through the activities of young communities in Ukraine. Paper main body. In Ukraine, youth unemployment is associated primarily with underdevelopment and economic growth, trends in the international economy’s globalization. It is migration processes that strongly influence the situation on the world labor market because, during the growth of cross-border movements, more and more young people leave their homes in the hope of finding work, which leads to migration from rural areas to cities or other countries. This will have an impact on labor markets in their countries as well as abroad. The International Labor Organization estimates that about 85,3 million young women and men were unemployed worldwide in 2020, or 44 per cent of the world’s unemployed. Many more young people try to earn a living in the informal economy and often end up as unemployed, unskilled young people. To replace older ones, they hire even younger children for lower pay, thus greatly reducing the chances of providing education for both. It is estimated that 59 million young people between the ages of 15 and 17 are employed in unsafe jobs.Unemployment is one of the problems of young people in small communities of Ukraine, as 73% of young people do not see opportunities for even temporary employment due to lack of supply in the market, and 27% due to housekeeping.Traditionally, the lower unemployment rate in rural areas is due to participation in housekeeping. However, this positive fact about the lower unemployment rate among rural youth is reduced by a longer unemployment period. According to the research, the experience of youth unemployment is more devastating for them than for their parents because parents have fewer economic means to support their children. Accordingly, the development of youth in the community is impossible without creating employment conditions.An important factor is to acquaint young people with the trends and directions of development of the whole territorial community and even better involve them in the planning process, allowing them to assess the threats and challenges to the development of small communities. Accordingly, contributing to education and informing about medium-term prospects and available vacancies are practical things that can already make youth unemployment low.The article describes the main provisions of the youth program “DOBRE”, which operates in Ukraine. This program offers its own 4-level system of youth involvement: “Hear youth”, “Develop youth”, “Strengthen youth”, “Support youth”. Addressing the lack of support and activity of young people in small communities is done by creating the opportunities they need for young people, namely creating enough jobs, developing opportunities, decent pay, and creating a sense that young people are included in community life. Also, the priorities are adhered to and supported by the community.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. To solve the problem of youth employment, it is necessary to form state guarantees aimed at stimulating self-employment and entrepreneurial activity of young people; improving the legal framework in the context of preferential taxation of enterprises that hire young workers; active control and monitoring of labor market and educational services indicators to timely adjust and take the necessary measures, as well as to implement a preventive policy of youth employment. An important area of problem-solving is forming a mechanism for effective interaction between government, business and education, which determines the coordination of efforts and joint activities aimed at improving the situation on the labor market and providing young people with jobs. The state’s policy in the field of youth employment needs to be improved, taking into account the current state of the labor market, new trends in social and labor relations through the introduction of best foreign experience and its adaptation to domestic realities.


2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-140
Author(s):  
Diana-Maria Hulea

Abstract Traditionally, in the Roma family, the woman is responsible for educating the children, from birth to marriage. Thus, she has an educational role of prime importance that helps to ensure the group’s survival, along with its characteristics and traditions. The father teaches his sons the traditional craft.The main purpose of this article is to present aspects of the traditional education provided by the Roma family and to explain the Roma attitude towards school, but also to explain the relationship between traditional education and current occupation of Roma young people. The data collection method used was the semi-structured interviews on 42 people, both from rural and urban areas.It was found that the traditional Roma family provides continuing education based on mutual respect between children and adults without a division between theoretical education and the apprenticeship of roles in the family. The family also provides the economic discipleship, as the child learns ways to support his family. It was noted that for Roma living in urban and rural areas, schooling is not particularly important. However it was also noted that they have changed their way of thinking to some extent, because they realize that it is very important to know how to read and write. Regarding the current occupations it can be argued that, in general, Roma young people develop economic activities that imply some degree of independence. We observe an attitude of rejection towards income-generating activities that involve compliance with a fixed schedule, inclusion in a group of colleagues and strict conditions in the workplace.


Author(s):  
Thomas Yeboah ◽  
Barbara Crossouard ◽  
Justin Flynn

Abstract This chapter explores the futures that rural young people in Africa imagine for themselves, and how they relate to both their current engagement with the rural economy, and the narrative that suggests a widely held desire to abandon agriculture and rural areas. Beyond imagined future economic activities, including farm and non-farm work, the chapter highlights the place of education and migration in young people's imagined futures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Jasmine SILIKAM ◽  
◽  
Angeline Raymonde NGO ESSOUNGA

In sub-Saharan Africa, women participate in the rural labor market where they are present in subsistence agro-pastoral activities, which are more domestic work and, in other income-generating rural activities such as trading. Within the studies carried out on women’s status in communities, those on women's access to income-generating activities in certain contexts such as Ghanaian urban areas, have revealed that, income-generating activities contribute to a redistribution of gender roles in households. This paper by questioning the impacts of women's economic activities on gender relations within households in rural areas of Northern Cameroon, aims to analyse the realities faced by women involved in income-generating activities in a particular rural area to assess if the changes mentioned above happened in all communities. The data used for this work are empirical data from a qualitative survey of 48 women living in 8 villages in Mayo Danay, an administrative territory in Northern Cameroon. The results of this survey reveal that rural women involved in income-generating activities are both breadwinners and domestic workers. Contrary to what was observed in Ghana, the status of female breadwinners does not participate in the emancipation of women. Indeed, even with their means of production, women are still dependent on men and are still alone to bear the burden of the domestic work. Access of women to income-generating activities and their participation in household expenditures have surely reduced poverty in households but have not contributed to gender roles changes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Jasmine SILIKAM ◽  
Angeline Raymonde NGO ESSOUNGA

In sub-Saharan Africa, women participate in the rural labor market where they are present in subsistence agro-pastoral activities, which are more domestic work and, in other income-generating rural activities such as trading. Within the studies carried out on women’s status in communities, those on women's access to income-generating activities in certain contexts such as Ghanaian urban areas, have revealed that, income-generating activities contribute to a redistribution of gender roles in households. This paper by questioning the impacts of women's economic activities on gender relations within households in rural areas of Northern Cameroon, aims to analyse the realities faced by women involved in income-generating activities in a particular rural area to assess if the changes mentioned above happened in all communities. The data used for this work are empirical data from a qualitative survey of 48 women living in 8 villages in Mayo Danay, an administrative territory in Northern Cameroon. The results of this survey reveal that rural women involved in income-generating activities are both breadwinners and domestic workers. Contrary to what was observed in Ghana, the status of female breadwinners does not participate in the emancipation of women. Indeed, even with their means of production, women are still dependent on men and are still alone to bear the burden of the domestic work. Access of women to income-generating activities and their participation in household expenditures have surely reduced poverty in households but have not contributed to gender roles changes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 340
Author(s):  
Manuela Mece

Employment plays a central role in the social integration of young people. Young people in rural areas are the future of agriculture and other rural industries, but often lack the guidance and support necessary to fully contribute to the development of their communities, thereby fuelling the vicious cycle of rural underdevelopment and poverty. This study aims to gain a better understanding of the youth employment challenges faced in rural areas by bringing together in group discussions with stakeholders (farmers, entrepreneurs in rural areas, associations, etc.). The conclusions from this assignment will feed to a baseline analysis of youth involvement in rural labour market and skills development required and will identify areas where rural development programs can be targeted to increase their contribution to employment creation. This will also suggest formulation of policy recommendations on stimulating new sources of employment, and the conditions for success in stimulating employment in rural areas. The proposed methodology was developed through Desktop Research and direct interviews with focus groups.


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