March 16-31, 2019
All optimism on the “Africa Rising” narrative fades away with one fundamental question- Is the continent generating enough jobs to climb out of poverty and social backwardness ?
The question becomes all the more pertinent with the fact that Africa is home to the largest youth population below 20 years. Approximately 12 million of them annually join the labour market to contest for just 3 million jobs. According to available statistics, the job-seeking youth in Africa will be 450 million in two decades.
Unemployed youth and poverty can be a deadly cocktail for any country. Global research institutions like Brookings, McKinsey etc have published well researched reports on Africa’s failure to reap from its demographic dividend and the urgency to create jobs for youth.
Historically, the answer for job creation has been industrial development. Manufacturing sector played the central role in bringing in a structural change in developing economies generating jobs, particularly East Asia. However, in Africa’s case, manufacturing played a very limited and diminishing role. According to some reports, currently manufacturing accounts for only4-5 percent of employment in Africa’s GDP. Nevertheless, as the popular idiom goes, we cannot compare Apples and Oranges and East Asia’s model may not be appropriate for Africa. Africa needs its own customised but tested processes that can fix its ballooning unemployment within the shifting global trade patterns, market demands and financial strengths.
The focus has to shift from firefighting approaches like projects & programmes aimed at creating jobs to labour-intensive sub sectors in which an African country has a global competitive edge. These sectors are agriculture, textile and clothing ,tourism, ICT etc which has strong growth potential, and shares many characteristics with manufacturing, especially the capacity to create better jobs. To cite an example, trade in clothing is expected to rise by 60 per cent and textiles by 34 per cent over the next ten years. As labour costs have risen in East Asia, greater opportunities are emerging for Africa. Similarly, service sectors like tourism , ICT etc are also promising sectors.
Developing skills in target sectors is crucial . Lack of skilled work force was reported as a top barrier to the growth of African economies. Absorbing new technology will result in higher productivity better quality and competitiveness of exports .
Studies of Japan and the Newly Industrialised Economies indicate that conscious employment mapping is essential for generating optimum jobs. Identifying untapped growth potentials in agriculture, industry, exports and services can help in achieving full employment potential.
A major share of India’s success in economic progress including exports have come from small and medium enterprises. They continue to be the biggest contributors to employment across countries. Promoting small business through effective policies to facilitate technology, training, credit, marketing and distribution channels is key to Africa’s economic growth.
What Africa needs today is a comprehensive approach, the right mix of policies, and a conducive business climate, to meet the employment needs of its people.
