The Changing Structure of Africa’s Economies
Using data from the Groningen Growth and Development Center’s Africa Sector Database and the Demographic and Health Surveys, we show that much of Africa’s recent growth and poverty reduction has been associated with a substantive decline in the share of the labor force engaged in agriculture. This d...
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30958 |
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okr-10986-309582021-05-25T10:54:35Z The Changing Structure of Africa’s Economies Diao, Xinshen Harttgen, Kenneth McMillan, Margaret LABOR PRODUCTIVITY LABOR MARKET INDUSTRIALIZATION POVERTY REDUCTION STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION ECONOMIC GROWTH LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION EMPLOYMENT Using data from the Groningen Growth and Development Center’s Africa Sector Database and the Demographic and Health Surveys, we show that much of Africa’s recent growth and poverty reduction has been associated with a substantive decline in the share of the labor force engaged in agriculture. This decline is most pronounced for rural females over the age of 25 who have a primary education; it has been accompanied by a systematic increase in the productivity of the labor force, as it has moved from low productivity agriculture to higher productivity services and manufacturing. We also show that, although the employment share in manufacturing is not expanding rapidly, in most of the low-income African countries the employment share in manufacturing has not peaked and is still expanding, albeit from very low levels. More work is needed to understand the implications of these shifts in employment shares for future growth and development in Africa south of the Sahara. 2018-12-06T19:25:52Z 2018-12-06T19:25:52Z 2017-06-01 Journal Article World Bank Economic Review 1564-698X http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30958 CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research Africa Sub-Saharan Africa |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
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Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| topic |
LABOR PRODUCTIVITY LABOR MARKET INDUSTRIALIZATION POVERTY REDUCTION STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION ECONOMIC GROWTH LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION EMPLOYMENT |
| spellingShingle |
LABOR PRODUCTIVITY LABOR MARKET INDUSTRIALIZATION POVERTY REDUCTION STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION ECONOMIC GROWTH LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION EMPLOYMENT Diao, Xinshen Harttgen, Kenneth McMillan, Margaret The Changing Structure of Africa’s Economies |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Sub-Saharan Africa |
| description |
Using data from the Groningen Growth and Development Center’s Africa Sector Database and the Demographic and Health Surveys, we show that much of Africa’s recent growth and poverty reduction has been associated with a substantive decline in the share of the labor force engaged in agriculture. This decline is most pronounced for rural females over the age of 25 who have a primary education; it has been accompanied by a systematic increase in the productivity of the labor force, as it has moved from low productivity agriculture to higher productivity services and manufacturing. We also show that, although the employment share in manufacturing is not expanding rapidly, in most of the low-income African countries the employment share in manufacturing has not peaked and is still expanding, albeit from very low levels. More work is needed to understand the implications of these shifts in employment shares for future growth and development in Africa south of the Sahara. |
| format |
Journal Article |
| author |
Diao, Xinshen Harttgen, Kenneth McMillan, Margaret |
| author_facet |
Diao, Xinshen Harttgen, Kenneth McMillan, Margaret |
| author_sort |
Diao, Xinshen |
| title |
The Changing Structure of Africa’s Economies |
| title_short |
The Changing Structure of Africa’s Economies |
| title_full |
The Changing Structure of Africa’s Economies |
| title_fullStr |
The Changing Structure of Africa’s Economies |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Changing Structure of Africa’s Economies |
| title_sort |
changing structure of africa’s economies |
| publisher |
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank |
| publishDate |
2018 |
| url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30958 |
| _version_ |
1764473269721759744 |