A Socio-Economic-Political Dimension of Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The paper adopts a broader perspective in studying the determinants of employment. The main objective of the study is to assess the impact of social and political variables on employment levels after accounting for macroeconomic factors. In addition, the paper adopts a gendered dimension to the labour market, as relatively more women tend to be unemployed or have vulnerable jobs in the informal sector. The Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares is applied to analyse the drivers of employment. Data for Sub-Saharan Africa is collected from 1991 to 2016. The findings indicate that higher economic growth; more access to finance and education, low corruption as well as political stability positively affect employment. There is thus evidence to extend existing employment analysis and policy making beyond economic factors to embrace social and political constraints.

KEYWORDS:

• Employment
• economic growth
• gender and Sub-Saharan Africa

JEL Codes:

• J21
• J23
• N17

Notes

1 Data were compiled from 1990 to 2016 because most countries in the study have complete data (with no missing information) during that period.

2 A country is classified as “resource-rich” when exports of non-renewable natural resources such as oil, minerals and metals account for more than 25 per cent of the value of total exports (Lundgren et al., 2013).

In Africa, 27 countries are classified are resource-rich (Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Dem Rep, Congo Rep, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) (Oxfam International, 2014).