The Labor Market and Poverty in Sudan
Using the most recent household survey data, this paper examines the characteristics of Sudan’s labor market as it relates to poverty outcomes. Several important aspects of the labor market are analyzed, including the relationship between labor mar...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Policy Note |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/439111628490790397/The-Labor-Market-and-Poverty-in-Sudan http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36101 |
| Summary: | Using the most recent household survey
data, this paper examines the characteristics of Sudan’s
labor market as it relates to poverty outcomes. Several
important aspects of the labor market are analyzed,
including the relationship between labor market indicators
and the demographic structure of the population, geographic
location, education, and gender. It highlights the
significant differences in labor market outcomes depending
on the structure and distribution of the population and
Sudan’s labor market’s many challenges across different
dimensions, including demography, gender, and geography. The
four key messages can be summarized as follows: first, Sudan
is at the verge of entering the earl-dividend stage of the
demographic transition. Sudan’s population, while still very
young, is on track to enter into the early-dividend stage of
the demographic transition within just a few years, raising
the stakes for job creation and investment in human capita.
Second, while we find evidence for an increase in employment
and labor force participation at the national level, this
increase seems to be driven by seasonal labor in agriculture
and increasing economic hardship, respectively. In urban
areas, however, unemployment increased sharply, especially
among youth. And despite the overall increase in employment
and labor force participation, Sudan’s labor market still
underperforms in comparison to its peers. Third, Sudan’s
labor market is characterized by large gender disparities,
including in terms of employment opportunities and pay.
Finally, we find no signs of the beginnings of a structural
transformation over the time-period author study;
agriculture remains the mainstay of a large majority of
employed Sudanese. Rather, labor productivity and real wages
outside of agriculture declined markedly between 2009 and
2014, especially in sectors with links to the oil economy.
The paper offers policy insights to enhance the role of the
labor market in reducing poverty and boosting shared
prosperity in Sudan, key among which are 1) encouraging
private sector growth, 2) overcoming gender discrimination
in the labor market, 3) investing in agriculture and
re-storing price incentives, and 4) further expanding access
to quality education. |
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