Foreign firms in core or peripheral areas? The spatial dimension of job creation and wages in Sub‐Saharan Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (6) ◽  
pp. 2233-2250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Binetti ◽  
Nicola D. Coniglio
Keyword(s):  
Job Creation ◽  
Spatial Dimension ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Foreign Firms ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Peripheral Areas

Job Creation and Wages in Least Developed Countries: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pablo Rud ◽  
Ija Trapeznikova
Keyword(s):  
Job Creation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
High Wage ◽  
Micro Data ◽  
Least Developed Countries ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
Sector Model ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Least developed economies are characterised by poorly functioning labour markets: only a small fraction of workers is in paid employment, where productivity and wages are low. We incorporate a standard search framework into a two-sector model of development to assess the importance of different obstacles to job creation and productivity. The model provides new insights in the characterisation of poorly developed labour markets that are observed in the data, such as high wage dispersion. We estimate the model using micro data for six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and highlight the empirical relevance of labour market frictions, entry costs and skills.

scholarly journals Policies for Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-74
Author(s):  
Schwebel David ◽  
Elisenda Elisenda ◽  
Peter Wobst ◽  
Ileana Grandelis
Keyword(s):  
Job Creation ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Youth Employment ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Rural Transformation ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Training Programmes

A qualitative analytical framework, policy discourse analysis, is applied to understand the prevalence of youth-targeting in national policies related to employment. Forty-seven policies from 13 Sub-Saharan African countries promulgated in 1996 to 2016 were selected for the evaluation, based on their direct or indirect relevance to youth employment via themes of development, rural transformation, and agriculture. The main findings show that policies focus more on promoting labour supply strategies, e.g. training programmes on entrepreneurship skills, rather than demand-side ones—such as reducing the constraints to business development and job creation at the sectoral level. Policies rarely touch on known constraints faced by youth, like their limited engagement in agribusiness activities and representation in policy dialogues. SSA policies with a youth employment lens associated to the different pillars of the Decent Work Agenda are assessed.

scholarly journals The Informal Sector In Sub-Saharan Africa: Out Of The Shadows To Foster Sustainable Employment And Equity?

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald L Sparks ◽  
Stephen T. Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Informal Sector ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Union ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
National Databases ◽  
Property Title

Over the past twenty years or so, there has been a debate that basically asks “…whether the informal sector should really be seen as a marginalized, ‘survival’ sector, which mops up excess or entrenched workers, or as a vibrant, entrepreneurial part of the economy which can stimulate economic growth and job creation.” (African Union 2008). This paper argues the latter. Further, this paper argues that employment in the informal sector is no longer a journey, but has become the destination of many. If the aim is to create jobs and reduce poverty, the informal sector must be included in the debate. Indeed, this paper recommends that the debate about the advantages of formal sector vs. the informal sector needs to end.  Governments need to unequivocally recognize and admit the importance of the informal sector and finds ways to encourage its growth. They also need, at the same time, to decide how to strengthen the formal sector and extend benefits to those in the informal sector, while removing barriers to the formal sector to allow more to participate.  Specifically, there are at least five major areas where changes need to be made:  1) Establish an enabling environment and supportive regulatory framework, 2) Provide access to appropriate training, 3) Improve basic facilities and amenities and infrastructure, 4) Increase ability to obtain property title and access to credit, and 5) Improve national databases and establish uniform standards.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Conflicts and Development

2014 ◽  
pp. 102-112
Author(s):  
E. Lebedeva
Keyword(s):  
Political Instability ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Ruling Elites ◽  
The Face ◽  
Basic Services ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Peripheral Areas

Political instability is growing in sub-Saharan Africa. The situation has left the Sahelian countries increasingly vulnerable to insecurity resulting from armed conflicts, terrorist activities, illicit trafficking and related organized crime, ecological crisis, «resource» wars and the like. These new global and regional challenges superimposed on traditional factors, provoking conflicts (social polarization, widespread corruption, coupled with the inability of the involved governments to deliver basic services, weak administration and other). At the same time, chronic political instability is a direct result of the lack of institutionalized political dialogue, of national consensus on strategy of national security and, also, because of the continuing unwillingness of the ruling elites to engage in the development of peripheral areas. Crises in Mali and Nigeria have clearly demonstrated the «fragility» of sub-Saharan states in the face of these threats. The scale of problems in the Sahel is so great that the United Nations has proposed a new conceptual and organizational approach to their solution. Nowhere is the development–security nexus more evident than in the Sahel. Major emphasis is placed on integrated and coordinated implementation of measures in the field of security and development in the region and regional and interregional cooperation among Sahelian, West African and Maghreb states. The UN declares a top priority of “partner peacekeeping", which is based on the cooperation of the UN as the main actor with international regional organizations – the EU, AU, ECOWAS, financial institutions and donor countries as well as other bilateral partners. Currently, ensuring a coherent and mutually supportive peacekeeping of the UN and the AU becomes most urgent issue for the organizations, since the relations between them are characterized by mistrust and tension.

AN ASSESSMENT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL DISPOSITION AND CULTURE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: SOME LESSONS FROM GHANA

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (01) ◽  
pp. 1850001 ◽  
Author(s):  
KWAME ADOM ◽  
NEWMAN CHIRI ◽  
DANIEL QUAYE ◽  
KWASI AWUAH-WEREKOH
Keyword(s):  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Youth Employment ◽  
Job Seekers ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Job Seeking ◽  
Youth Entrepreneurship ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

This paper assesses the impact of Ghanaian culture on the entrepreneurial disposition of Higher National Diploma (HND) graduates of Accra Polytechnic from 2007 to 2012. Since the turn of the millennium, there has been more attention given to job creation than job seeking, especially among the youth, to address unemployment in developing countries. This is because of governments' inability to match the growing number of job seekers to job creation across the globe. One way to address this deficit in Ghana is the introduction of courses in entrepreneurship in almost all tertiary institutions, coupled with the setting up of institutions such as Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship Development Agency (GYEEDA), National Youth Employment Program (NYEP), Youth Entrepreneurship Agency (YEA), Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES), among others. Reporting on 2015 data from Accra, the main finding was that collectivistic culture has negative effects on capital accumulation, human resource management and the urgency the unemployed graduates attached to self-employment. Therefore, this paper calls for some ways to address the issue of graduates' inability to be enterprising.

How do Liberalization, Institutions and Human Capital Development affect the Nexus between Domestic Private Investment and Foreign Direct Investment? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-598
Author(s):  
John Mayanja Bbale ◽  
John Bosco Nnyanzi
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Foreign Firms ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
Human Capital Development ◽  
Fair Competition ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Capital Development

Developing countries have continued to experience an unprecedented increase in direct foreign investment (FDI) inflows for the past two decades. However, the quantitative impact of the same on private domestic investment (PDI) is still imprecise. Using a system GMM approach and panel data from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the period 1996–2013, we provide evidence in support of the crowding out role of FDI on PDI but the observed nexus is precipitated by the presence of liberalization, human capital development and institutional quality. Interestingly, when we consider the latter variables uninteracted, the improvement of each appears to significantly benefit PDI. In addition, the substitution role of FDI in PDI appears to be stronger in resource-rich than in the resource-poor countries. Additionally, we find that public investment crowds out private investment whereas infrastructure development, past private investment, credit depth, and GDP per capita are supportive of the PDI. However, we document mixed evidence for sub-samples of the East African Community, the Southern Africa Development Corporation, the Economic Community and West African States, and the Economic Community of Central African States. Overall, our study underscores the urgent need for well-directed policies in line with improving institutions, school enrolment, financial systems, infrastructure, and the government prioritization of productive investment that is supportive of the private as well as foreign sector. We advocate for reviews of incentive packages to foreign firms that discourage fair competition if the PDI-FDI complementarity and consequential positive spillovers to other sectors are to be realized for economic development in SSA.

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