Who Is Employed? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa on Redefining Employment
The 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (in 2013) redefined labor statistics standards. A major change was to narrow the definition of employment to work for pay or profit. By the revised standards, farming that is only or mainly...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2020
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/468881598538973944/Who-Is-Employed-Evidence-from-Sub-Saharan-Africa-on-Redefining-Employment http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34418 |
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okr-10986-344182022-09-20T00:11:21Z Who Is Employed? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa on Redefining Employment Gaddis, Isis Oseni, Gbemisola Palacios-Lopez, Amparo Pieters, Janneke LABOR STATISTICS LABOR MARKET INFORMALITY LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION GENDER OWN-USE PRODUCTION HOUSEHOLD SURVEY EMPLOYMENT FARM PRODUCTION The 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (in 2013) redefined labor statistics standards. A major change was to narrow the definition of employment to work for pay or profit. By the revised standards, farming that is only or mainly intended for own use is no longer considered employment, and such a farmer is no longer considered to be employed or in the labor force. This paper analyzes the implications of the revised standards on measures of employment in Sub-Saharan Africa obtained from multi-topic household surveys. It shows that, in some contexts, 70 to 80 percent of farmers produce only or mainly for family consumption and are therefore, based on this activity, not considered employed by the revised standards. However, there is wide variation across countries and regions. Moreover, farmers are more likely to report intending to produce for sale at the end of the growing season of the main local crop than earlier in the season. Men are more likely than women to produce for sale. The revised standards lead to significantly lower employment-to-population ratios in rural Africa and change the sectoral composition of the employed population toward non-agricultural sectors. The paper concludes with recommendations for data producers and users. 2020-09-03T14:11:17Z 2020-09-03T14:11:17Z 2020-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/468881598538973944/Who-Is-Employed-Evidence-from-Sub-Saharan-Africa-on-Redefining-Employment http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34418 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9370 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 Sub-Saharan Africa |
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Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
LABOR STATISTICS LABOR MARKET INFORMALITY LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION GENDER OWN-USE PRODUCTION HOUSEHOLD SURVEY EMPLOYMENT FARM PRODUCTION |
| spellingShingle |
LABOR STATISTICS LABOR MARKET INFORMALITY LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION GENDER OWN-USE PRODUCTION HOUSEHOLD SURVEY EMPLOYMENT FARM PRODUCTION Gaddis, Isis Oseni, Gbemisola Palacios-Lopez, Amparo Pieters, Janneke Who Is Employed? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa on Redefining Employment |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Sub-Saharan Africa |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9370 |
| description |
The 19th International Conference of
Labour Statisticians (in 2013) redefined labor statistics
standards. A major change was to narrow the definition of
employment to work for pay or profit. By the revised
standards, farming that is only or mainly intended for own
use is no longer considered employment, and such a farmer is
no longer considered to be employed or in the labor force.
This paper analyzes the implications of the revised
standards on measures of employment in Sub-Saharan Africa
obtained from multi-topic household surveys. It shows that,
in some contexts, 70 to 80 percent of farmers produce only
or mainly for family consumption and are therefore, based on
this activity, not considered employed by the revised
standards. However, there is wide variation across countries
and regions. Moreover, farmers are more likely to report
intending to produce for sale at the end of the growing
season of the main local crop than earlier in the season.
Men are more likely than women to produce for sale. The
revised standards lead to significantly lower
employment-to-population ratios in rural Africa and change
the sectoral composition of the employed population toward
non-agricultural sectors. The paper concludes with
recommendations for data producers and users. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Gaddis, Isis Oseni, Gbemisola Palacios-Lopez, Amparo Pieters, Janneke |
| author_facet |
Gaddis, Isis Oseni, Gbemisola Palacios-Lopez, Amparo Pieters, Janneke |
| author_sort |
Gaddis, Isis |
| title |
Who Is Employed? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa on Redefining Employment |
| title_short |
Who Is Employed? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa on Redefining Employment |
| title_full |
Who Is Employed? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa on Redefining Employment |
| title_fullStr |
Who Is Employed? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa on Redefining Employment |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Who Is Employed? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa on Redefining Employment |
| title_sort |
who is employed? evidence from sub-saharan africa on redefining employment |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/468881598538973944/Who-Is-Employed-Evidence-from-Sub-Saharan-Africa-on-Redefining-Employment http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34418 |
| _version_ |
1764480856118788096 |