Publication:
Africa Development Indicators 2008-09 : Youth and Employment in Africa--The Potential, the Problem, the Promise

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (2.14 MB)
1,643 downloads
English Text (1.55 MB)
1,043 downloads
Date
2009
ISSN
Published
2009
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The first part of the report presents stylized facts of youth and labor markets in Africa. The second part discusses past youth employment interventions in the region. It argues for the need of an integrated approach should governments want to tackle youth employment issues in a sustainable manner. Indeed, in African countries, with large informal sectors and dominance of rural population, solely reforming labor market institutions and implementing active labor market policies are likely to have limited impact. It argues that the most needed and well-rounded approaches are: expanding job and education alternatives in the rural areas, where most youth live; promoting and encouraging mobility; creating a conducive business environment; encouraging the private sector; improving the access and quality of skills formation; taking care of demographic issues that more directly affects the youth; and reducing child labor.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2009. Africa Development Indicators 2008-09 : Youth and Employment in Africa--The Potential, the Problem, the Promise. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12349 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Kosovo - Youth in Jeopardy : Being Young, Unemployed, and Poor in Kosovo
    (Washington, DC, 2008-09) World Bank
    The main objective of the report is to provide diagnosis on youth employment, which can provide the basis for future policy design. The report is structured as follows: the chapter one provides a general background of macroeconomic and employment outcomes in Kosovo. The chapter then explains the framework, scope, and limitations of this study (Why youth? Why youth in jeopardy?). Chapter two develops a youth employment profile using data from the 2003-2006 labor force surveys and the 2006 household budget survey; analysis includes a profile of youth in jeopardy in Kosovo, employment trends, and assessment of youth employment quality and constraints. Chapter three provides an overview of the current youth programs and policies being implemented in the territory in the context of the Kosovo Youth National Action Plan (KYNAP).
  • Publication
    Youth Employment : A Human Development Agenda for the Next Decade
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06) Margolis, David; Robalino, David; Rother, Friederike; Newhouse, David; Lundberg, Mattias
    This paper reviews the main challenges facing countries in attempting to improve labor market outcomes among youth, focusing on the issues that became starkly visible during the recent financial crisis. In order to better identify and set up human development interventions, the paper proposes an agenda that focuses on three areas: (1) improving the understanding of the causes and consequences of poor labor market outcomes for youth; (2) continuing to learn from the evaluation of pilots and programs that aim to promote productive employment among young people; and (3) addressing implementation issues which frequently overwhelm the best designs. The paper utilizes research on youth employment to take stock of youth labor market outcomes across regions, focusing on inactivity, unemployment, and employment indicators. A review of what is known about current interventions, including those that appear in the youth employment Inventory database of programs, provides the basis for determining the efficacy of five categories of intervention: (i) skills training (including vocational training, on-the-job-training programs, literacy and numeracy programs, second-chance and equivalency programs, and soft-skills programs); (ii) entrepreneurship promotion (financial assistance, technical assistance, and entrepreneurship training); (iii) subsidized employment (including wage subsidy programs, public works, and public/community service programs); (iv) employment services (including search assistance and access to labor market information, job counseling and placement services, and financial assistance for job search); and (v) reforms to labor market regulation (including anti-discrimination legislation) training programs, wage subsidies. Finally, the paper proposes an agenda for research and policy analysis in the area of human development that is expected to help both deepen the understanding of youth employment issues and improve the selection, design, and implementation of youth employment programs.
  • Publication
    Youth in Africa's Labor Market
    (Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008) Garcia, Marito; Fares, Jean
    Youth and Africa have received increased attention in recent policy discussions and World Bank work, as articulated in the Africa action plan and the World Development Report 2007: development and the next generation. The Africa action plan offers a framework to support critical policy and public action led by African countries to achieve well-defined goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The World Development report's main message is that the time has never been better to invest in young people living in developing countries. It offers a three pillar policy framework for investing in and preserving the human capital of the next generation. Both frameworks respond to the desire to find solutions to Africa's development challenges and to prepare for and benefit from the next generation of workers, parents, and leaders. This report examines the challenges Africa's youth face in their transition to working life and proposes policies for meeting these challenges. It presents evidence from case studies of 4 countries - Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda and from household data on 13 countries. The four case studies include a stocktaking of existing policies and programs to address youth employment and labor markets. The overarching message of the report is the call to further invest in the human capital of youth in Sub-Saharan Africa to take advantage of the large youth cohorts there. Youth in Africa leave school too early and enter the labor market unprepared, limiting their contribution to economic growth and increasing their vulnerability to poverty and economic hardship.
  • Publication
    Gambia, The - Youth Employment and Skills Development Study : Improving Youth Employment Outcomes Through Enhanced Skills Development
    (World Bank, 2010-08-01) World Bank
    Despite substantial improvements in access to basic education and steady economic growth, The Gambia still faces considerable challenges in respect to reducing poverty. As the result of its narrow economic base and its reduced internal market, the country will continue to rely heavily on the productivity of its citizens to reverse the cycle that keeps families in poverty generation after generation. Poverty reduction is a complex equation that involves improvements in job creation, especially for high-skilled and productive employment, as well as improvements in human capital levels to ensure that citizens are able to take advantage of employment opportunities. Currently, however, low human capital levels greatly limit the productivity and employment outcomes of the population, as evidenced by the fact that a majority continues to work in subsistence agriculture, especially in rural areas. The Second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II (2007-2015, PRSP II) recognizes the need to focus on improving youth employment outcomes. It states that 'The Gambia has a problem of youth unemployment especially those that have limited skills. Consequently, a big proportion of the youth are part of the people categorized as poor in The Gambia. PRSP II will focus on the problem of youth unemployment through various approaches including supporting private sector investment that creates jobs for the youth, increasing access to productive assets particularly credit by the youth, and retooling and training the youth to increase their employability.'
  • Publication
    The Challenge of Youth Employment in Sri Lanka
    (World Bank, 2010) Gunatilaka, Ramani; Mayer, Markus; Vodopivec, Milan
    Sri Lanka has been regarded as a model of a country with successful social policies, yet for decades it has faced major challenges in providing employment and satisfying other aspirations of youth. Although the labor force has become more educated, and this trend is particularly marked for youth, the main source of employment for both youth and adults remains the informal sector. Moreover, the importance of the informal sector as a source of employment has increased since the mid-1990s. On the positive side, unemployment declined in last decades, particularly for youth. The Sri Lankan government has continually acted on various fronts to address the youth unemployment problem. It has tried to improve and modernize Sri Lanka's general education system, which has long been criticized as too academic, and to increase the accessibility of training so as to promote the employability youth leaving school. Other actions included strengthening entrepreneurship programs and introducing career guidance and counseling and improving labor market information to help young people in their job searches and to guide human resource planning. In 2007, the government developed the National Action Plan for youth employment, built, for the first time, on a coherent youth employment policy framework and deriving an encompassing and consistent set of policy recommendations. The plan was based on in-depth analysis of Sri Lanka's labor market, provided via a series of background papers undertaken under the auspices of the Youth Employment Network (YEN). To provide the richness and comprehensiveness of this analysis in its totality, these papers, updated and revised, are collected in the present book. This book offers a wealth of valuable advice to the government and other stakeholders to achieve this goal. By exploiting the full potential of the youth, not only will their talent, aspirations, and energy be harnessed to advance economic growth, but also the existing inequities will be reduced and, hopefully in the longer run, eliminated.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.