Improving Skills Development in the Informal Sector : Strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa
This book looks at the experience of skills development in five African countries, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania, that together account for one-third of the nearly 900 million people living in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study examines: (...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Publication |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2013
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17899566/improving-skills-development-informal-sector-strategies-sub-saharan-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15802 |
| Summary: | This book looks at the experience of
skills development in five African countries, Ghana, Kenya,
Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania, that together account for
one-third of the nearly 900 million people living in
Sub-Saharan Africa. The study examines: (a) the employment
characteristics of the informal sector, (b) its size and
impact on poverty, (c) the profile of education and training
in the informal and formal sectors and the links with
employment and earnings, and (d) the skills development
strategies of those working in the informal sector. It draws
on household survey data in the five countries as well as
institutional analyses of the many programs offering
opportunities for skills development. This book defines the
nonfarm informal sector as follows: (i) the self-employed
(that is, those working on their own and with additional
workers), (ii) the contributing family members, and (iii)
the wage workers in small and household enterprises. Chapter
two discusses the background for this definition. The
empirical analysis of the five country cases shows that the
nonfarm informal sector is a significant part of the
economic landscape in these countries. The study is well
anchored in a larger literature on the informal sector, and
its findings are linked to and consistent with this
literature. Its findings are therefore expected to be
relevant to many other countries in the region, as well as
other regions such as South and East Asia. The book aims to
provide insights and messages for a wide audience concerned
with skills development. It raises issues relevant to
government policy makers, the donor community, and those
responsible for labor market institutions that provide
information, regulate, and support the intermediation of
labor demand and supply, as well as for public and private
skills providers, employers, children and their parents, new
labor market entrants, and of course those already working
in the informal sector. |
|---|