Rural Employment in Africa : Trends and Challenges

Rural Employment in Africa : Trends and Challenges

Africa’s rural population continues to expand rapidly and labor productivity in agriculture and many rural off farm activities remains low. This paper uses the lens of a dual economy and the associated patterns of agricultural, rural, and structural tr...

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Main Authors: Christiaensen, Luc, Maertens, Miet
Format: Working Paper (Numbered Series)
Language:English
Published: Washington, DC: World Bank 2022
Subjects:
RURAL EMPLOYMENT; AGRICULTURE; RURAL TRANSFORMATION; LABOR PRODUCTIVITY; RURAL AREA; INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE; PRODUCTIVITY GAP; PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT; AGRICULTURAL SELF-EMPLOYMENT; ACCOUNT ADVANCE RATE; CORPORATE CODE OF CONDUCT; DRIVERS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH; AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT; FOOD SYSTEM; SURPLUS LABOR; AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY; RURAL LABOR MARKET; EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE; INFORMAL SECTOR EMPLOYMENT; NUMBER OF WORKERS; RURAL LABOR FORCE; AGRICULTURAL LABOR; AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN; OFF-FARM EMPLOYMENT; INVESTMENTS IN AGRICULTURE; WAGE EMPLOYMENT; HIGH POPULATION DENSITY; GENDER WAGE GAP; AGRICULTURAL LABOR FORCE; AGRICULTURAL WAGE LABOR; JOB QUALITY; RURAL YOUTH; GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN; EMPLOYMENT CONDITION; WORKING CONDITION; MINIMUM WAGE; AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION; DUAL ECONOMY
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/423521645602857176/Rural-Employment-in-Africa-Trends-and-Challenges
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37023
id okr-10986-37023
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-370232022-02-23T21:31:11Z Rural Employment in Africa : Trends and Challenges Christiaensen, Luc Maertens, Miet RURAL EMPLOYMENT; AGRICULTURE; RURAL TRANSFORMATION; LABOR PRODUCTIVITY; RURAL AREA; INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE; PRODUCTIVITY GAP; PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT; AGRICULTURAL SELF-EMPLOYMENT; ACCOUNT ADVANCE RATE; CORPORATE CODE OF CONDUCT; DRIVERS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH; AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT; FOOD SYSTEM; SURPLUS LABOR; AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY; RURAL LABOR MARKET; EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE; INFORMAL SECTOR EMPLOYMENT; NUMBER OF WORKERS; RURAL LABOR FORCE; AGRICULTURAL LABOR; AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN; OFF-FARM EMPLOYMENT; INVESTMENTS IN AGRICULTURE; WAGE EMPLOYMENT; HIGH POPULATION DENSITY; GENDER WAGE GAP; AGRICULTURAL LABOR FORCE; AGRICULTURAL WAGE LABOR; JOB QUALITY; RURAL YOUTH; GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN; EMPLOYMENT CONDITION; WORKING CONDITION; MINIMUM WAGE; AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION; DUAL ECONOMY Africa’s rural population continues to expand rapidly and labor productivity in agriculture and many rural off farm activities remains low. This paper uses the lens of a dual economy and the associated patterns of agricultural, rural, and structural transformation to review the evolution of Africa’s rural employment and its inclusiveness. Many African countries still find themselves in an early stage of the agricultural and rural transformation. Given smaller sectoral productivity gaps than commonly assumed, greater size effects and larger spillovers, investment in agriculture and the rural off-farm economy remains warranted to broker the transition to more and more productive rural employment. The key policy questions thus become how best to invest in the agri-food system (on and increasingly also off the farm) and how best to generate demand for nonagricultural goods and services which rural households can competitively produce. Informing these choices continues to present a major research agenda, with digitization, the imperative of greening and intra-African liberalization raising many unarticulated and undocumented opportunities and challenges. 2022-02-23T21:31:11Z 2022-02-23T21:31:11Z 2022-02-23 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/423521645602857176/Rural-Employment-in-Africa-Trends-and-Challenges http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37023 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Working Paper (Numbered Series) Publications & Research Africa Africa Africa
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic RURAL EMPLOYMENT; AGRICULTURE; RURAL TRANSFORMATION; LABOR PRODUCTIVITY; RURAL AREA; INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE; PRODUCTIVITY GAP; PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT; AGRICULTURAL SELF-EMPLOYMENT; ACCOUNT ADVANCE RATE; CORPORATE CODE OF CONDUCT; DRIVERS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH; AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT; FOOD SYSTEM; SURPLUS LABOR; AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY; RURAL LABOR MARKET; EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE; INFORMAL SECTOR EMPLOYMENT; NUMBER OF WORKERS; RURAL LABOR FORCE; AGRICULTURAL LABOR; AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN; OFF-FARM EMPLOYMENT; INVESTMENTS IN AGRICULTURE; WAGE EMPLOYMENT; HIGH POPULATION DENSITY; GENDER WAGE GAP; AGRICULTURAL LABOR FORCE; AGRICULTURAL WAGE LABOR; JOB QUALITY; RURAL YOUTH; GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN; EMPLOYMENT CONDITION; WORKING CONDITION; MINIMUM WAGE; AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION; DUAL ECONOMY
spellingShingle RURAL EMPLOYMENT; AGRICULTURE; RURAL TRANSFORMATION; LABOR PRODUCTIVITY; RURAL AREA; INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE; PRODUCTIVITY GAP; PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT; AGRICULTURAL SELF-EMPLOYMENT; ACCOUNT ADVANCE RATE; CORPORATE CODE OF CONDUCT; DRIVERS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH; AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT; FOOD SYSTEM; SURPLUS LABOR; AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY; RURAL LABOR MARKET; EMPLOYMENT IN AGRICULTURE; INFORMAL SECTOR EMPLOYMENT; NUMBER OF WORKERS; RURAL LABOR FORCE; AGRICULTURAL LABOR; AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN; OFF-FARM EMPLOYMENT; INVESTMENTS IN AGRICULTURE; WAGE EMPLOYMENT; HIGH POPULATION DENSITY; GENDER WAGE GAP; AGRICULTURAL LABOR FORCE; AGRICULTURAL WAGE LABOR; JOB QUALITY; RURAL YOUTH; GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN; EMPLOYMENT CONDITION; WORKING CONDITION; MINIMUM WAGE; AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION; DUAL ECONOMY
Christiaensen, Luc
Maertens, Miet
Rural Employment in Africa : Trends and Challenges
geographic_facet Africa
Africa
Africa
description Africa’s rural population continues to expand rapidly and labor productivity in agriculture and many rural off farm activities remains low. This paper uses the lens of a dual economy and the associated patterns of agricultural, rural, and structural transformation to review the evolution of Africa’s rural employment and its inclusiveness. Many African countries still find themselves in an early stage of the agricultural and rural transformation. Given smaller sectoral productivity gaps than commonly assumed, greater size effects and larger spillovers, investment in agriculture and the rural off-farm economy remains warranted to broker the transition to more and more productive rural employment. The key policy questions thus become how best to invest in the agri-food system (on and increasingly also off the farm) and how best to generate demand for nonagricultural goods and services which rural households can competitively produce. Informing these choices continues to present a major research agenda, with digitization, the imperative of greening and intra-African liberalization raising many unarticulated and undocumented opportunities and challenges.
format Working Paper (Numbered Series)
author Christiaensen, Luc
Maertens, Miet
author_facet Christiaensen, Luc
Maertens, Miet
author_sort Christiaensen, Luc
title Rural Employment in Africa : Trends and Challenges
title_short Rural Employment in Africa : Trends and Challenges
title_full Rural Employment in Africa : Trends and Challenges
title_fullStr Rural Employment in Africa : Trends and Challenges
title_full_unstemmed Rural Employment in Africa : Trends and Challenges
title_sort rural employment in africa : trends and challenges
publisher Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate 2022
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/423521645602857176/Rural-Employment-in-Africa-Trends-and-Challenges
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37023
_version_ 1764486478583300096

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