African Jobless Growth Morphology:Vulnerabilities and Policy Responses

NWAOBI, GODWIN (2013): African Jobless Growth Morphology:Vulnerabilities and Policy Responses.

Abstract

As by product of economic growth, jobs are indeed transformational. In other words, efficiency increases as workers get better at what they do (as more productive jobs appear and less productive one disappear). In fact societies flourish as jobs bring together people from different ethnic and social backgrounds while providing alternatives to conflict. Unfortunately, in many African countries, unemployment rates are low and growth is seldom jobless. Regrettably, most of the poor work long hours and cannot make ends meet while the violation of basic human rights is not uncommon. Again, youth unemployment and unmet job expectations are alarming. Consequently, this paper provides a framework that cuts across sectors and shows that the best policy responses vary across African countries (depending on their levels of development, endowments, demography and institutions). Thus, at all stages of development, forcing economic production to spread evenly across areas is both elusive and expensive. Policy makers should therefore identify and execute strategies that balance development outcomes across areas by means of domestic integration instruments. However, in places where integration is hardest, the policy response should be comprehensively total: institutions that unite, infrastructure that connects, interventions that target, incentives that motivate as well as information and communication technologies that enables or drives.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: jobs, employment, unemployment, Africa, social protection, productivity, institutions, incentives, infrastructures, labor policies, information technology, economic growth, development, vulnerabilities, youth unemployment, domestic integration, self employment, social cohesion, private sector, government, knowledge, living standard, skills, education, industries
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D0 - General > D02 - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact; D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D13 - Household Production and Intrahousehold Allocation; D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement; D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D83 - Search ; Learning ; Information and Knowledge ; Communication ; Belief ; Unawareness; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General > E02 - Institutions and the Macroeconomy; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E24 - Employment ; Unemployment ; Wages ; Intergenerational Income Distribution ; Aggregate Human Capital ; Aggregate Labor Productivity; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E26 - Informal Economy ; Underground Economy; F - International Economics > F0 - General > F00 - General; F - International Economics > F4 - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance > F43 - Economic Growth of Open Economies; H - Public Economics > H1 - Structure and Scope of Government > H10 - General; H - Public Economics > H3 - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents > H30 - General; H - Public Economics > H4 - Publicly Provided Goods > H40 - General; H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies > H50 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I30 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J0 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J20 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J30 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J40 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers > J60 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J7 - Labor Discrimination; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J7 - Labor Discrimination > J70 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J8 - Labor Standards: National and International; K - Law and Economics > K3 - Other Substantive Areas of Law > K31 - Labor Law; L - Industrial Organization > L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior > L20 - General; L - Industrial Organization > L3 - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise > L30 - General; L - Industrial Organization > L5 - Regulation and Industrial Policy > L50 - General; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M5 - Personnel Economics; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R0 - General; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z18 - Public Policy

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