Economic Growth and Poverty in Cameroon: the role of Employment

Talla Fokam, Dieu Ne Dort and Fotso Koyeu, Fourier Prevost and Ningaye, Paul (2019): Economic Growth and Poverty in Cameroon: the role of Employment.

Abstract

This study investigates empirically the effect of employment in the transmission of economic growth to poverty change in Cameroon. Using data covering the period 1991 to 2017. We estimate two models: the employment intensity of growth model of Kapsos; and the Loayza and Raddatz model, which assesses the impact of sectoral employment intensity of economic growth to the change in poverty. Analyses highlight two main results. First, economic growth positively affects employment and negatively affects poverty rates. Second, the transmission of economic growth through employment is not effective in reducing poverty in Cameroon. These results show that in recent decades, economic growth has propelled the creation of employment in Cameroon. However, these employments, which are mostly precarious, generated by the informal sector, have not significantly reduced poverty.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: economic growth, poverty, employment
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I32 - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O47 - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth ; Aggregate Productivity ; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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