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...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Van den Broeck, Goedele, Kilic, Talip
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
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
id okr-10986-30230
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-302302021-06-08T14:42:47Z Dynamics of Off-Farm Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Gender Perspective Van den Broeck, Goedele Kilic, Talip NONFARM EMPLOYMENT RURAL EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT LABOR MOBILITY GENDER YOUTH EMPLOYMENT GENDER GAP WOMEN IN LABOR FORCE FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION 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. 2018-08-15T18:59:09Z 2018-08-15T18:59:09Z 2018-08 Working Paper 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 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8540 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Ethiopia Malawi Nigeria Tanzania Uganda
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic NONFARM EMPLOYMENT
RURAL EMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT
LABOR MOBILITY
GENDER
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
GENDER GAP
WOMEN IN LABOR FORCE
FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
spellingShingle NONFARM EMPLOYMENT
RURAL EMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT
LABOR MOBILITY
GENDER
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
GENDER GAP
WOMEN IN LABOR FORCE
FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION
Van den Broeck, Goedele
Kilic, Talip
Dynamics of Off-Farm Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Gender Perspective
geographic_facet Africa
Ethiopia
Malawi
Nigeria
Tanzania
Uganda
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8540
description 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.
format Working Paper
author Van den Broeck, Goedele
Kilic, Talip
author_facet Van den Broeck, Goedele
Kilic, Talip
author_sort Van den Broeck, Goedele
title Dynamics of Off-Farm Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Gender Perspective
title_short Dynamics of Off-Farm Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Gender Perspective
title_full Dynamics of Off-Farm Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Gender Perspective
title_fullStr Dynamics of Off-Farm Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Gender Perspective
title_full_unstemmed Dynamics of Off-Farm Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Gender Perspective
title_sort dynamics of off-farm employment in sub-saharan africa : a gender perspective
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url 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
_version_ 1764471478686842880