Dynamics of Off-Farm Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Gender Perspective
Off-farm income constitutes a significant share of the household livelihood portfolios across Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, the determinants and dynamics of individuals' participation in off-farm employment activities have not received adequate att...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/445771533566076752/Dynamics-of-off-farm-employment-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa-a-gender-perspective http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30230 |
| Summary: | Off-farm income constitutes a
significant share of the household livelihood portfolios
across Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, the determinants and
dynamics of individuals' participation in off-farm
employment activities have not received adequate attention
due to the weaknesses in individual-level data collection
and the lack of longitudinal studies. This paper uses
national panel household survey data from Ethiopia, Malawi,
Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda; provides empirical evidence
on individual-level off-farm (wage and self) employment
participation rates; analyzes the extent and drivers of
entry into off-farm employment and continued employment; and
conducts the analysis by gender and rural/urban location. A
significant share of the rural and urban working-age
individual population is found to participate in off-farm
employment, ranging at the national level from 34 percent in
Ethiopia to 58 percent in Malawi. Men participate in wage
and self-employment to a significantly greater extent
compared with women across time as well as within and across
countries, apart from women's participation in non-farm
enterprises being more common in Nigeria and Tanzania. The
population weighted cross-country gender difference in
off-farm employment stands at 9 percentage points, but this
has declined over time in most countries. A substantial
share of the population, amounting to about 39 million
individuals across the five countries, is estimated to have
entered and exited employment between 2010 and 2016,
pointing to the dynamic nature of off-farm employment.
Drivers of entry into off-farm employment and continued
employment are country- and gender-specific, with
demographic factors, occurrence of shocks, and job
characteristics emerging as the most important determinants. |
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