From school to employment; the dilemma of youth in Sub–Saharan Africa

Figures & data

Figure 1. GDP per capita growth (annual %).

Sources: World Bank Development Indicator, 2019

Figure 2. Value add (% GDP) per sector.

Sources: World Bank Development Indicator, 2019

Figure 3. Trade (%GDP).

Sources: World Bank Development Indicator, 2019.

Figure 4. Annual Population Growth (%).

Sources: World Bank Development Indicator, 2019.

Figure 5. Unemployment, youth (% of labour force ages 15–24), by gender.

Sources: World Bank Development Indicator, 2019.

Figure 6. Wage and salaried workers, (% of employment), by gender.

Sources: World Bank Development Indicator, 2019.

Figure 7. Labour force participation rate for ages 15–24, total (%).

Sources: World Bank Development Indicator, 2019.

Table 1. Distribution of youth by sex, by area of residence and unemployment.

Statement	Congo	Madagascar
Male	48.4%	47%
Female	54.6%	53%
Urban	72.1%	29%
Rural	27.9%	71%
Unemployment	9.4%	2.2%
Total	3267	5044

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 2. Youth education status.

Statement	Congo	Madagascar
Currently attending schooling or training	1573 (48%)	1225 (24%)
No, I have completed my education	597 (18%)	1364 (27%)
No, I left before graduation or completion of a training program	1024 (31%)	1756 (35%)
Never attended school or training	82 (0.3%)	699 (14%)
Total	3276 (100%)	5044 (100%)

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 3. Highest qualification among youth who were not attending school or training, Congo.

Statement	No qualifications	Primary	Lower secondary	Upper secondary	Lower professional secondary	Upper professional secondary	Professional Certificate (secondary level)	Professional Certificate (post-secondary level)	University	Post Graduate	Total
No, I have completed my education	37 6.2%	151 25.3%	145 24.3%	59 9.9%	9 1.5%	40 6.7%	34 5.7%	23 3.9%	97 16.2%	1 0.2%	598
No, I left before graduation or completion of training programme	151 14.7%	381 37.2%	307 30%	75 7.3%	30 2.9%	32 3.1%	14 1.4%	4 0.4%	30 2.9%	0 0%	1024
Total	188	532	452	134	39	72	48	27	127	1	1622

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 4. Highest qualification among youth who were not attending school or training, Madagascar.

Statement	No qualifications	Primary	Vocational school (secondary)	Secondary level	Vocational school (post-secondary)	University	Post-graduate, post-doctoral level	Total
No, I have completed my education	11 0.8%	661 48.5%	14 1%	614 45%	6 0.4%	57 4.2%	1 0.1%	1364
No, I left before graduation or completion of training programme	100 5.7%	1184 67.4%	16 0.9%	441 25.1%	2 0.1%	12 0.7%	1 0.1%	1756
Total	111	1845	30	1055	8	69	2	3120

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 5. Youth left school before completion by reasons.

Statement	Congo	Madagascar
Failed examinations	212 20.7%	248 14.1%
Not interested in education/training	52 5.1%	315 17.9%
Wanted to start working	66 6.4%	58 3.3%
To get married	54 5.3%	95 5.4%
Parents did not want me to start schooling	46 4.5%	43 2.4%
Economic reasons (could not afford/too poor/needed to earn money to support family)	350 34.2%	877 49.9%
No school nearby	27 2.6%	38 2.2%
Maternity	143 14%	NA
Health reasons	43 4.2%	NA
Others (specify)	31 3%	82 4.7%
Total	1024 100%	1756 100%

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 6. Youth perspective for future job.

Statement	Congo	Madagascar
Myself (own business/farm)	187 11.9%	159 13%
Work for the government/public sector	916 58.2%	909 74.2%
Work for a public company	115 7.3%	128 10.4%
Work for a private company	307 19.5%	21 1.7%
Work for an international or non-profit organization	42 2.7%	7 0.6%
Work for family business/farm	6 0.4%	1 0.1%
Total	1573 100%	1225 100%

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 7. Employment status among workers youth.

Statement	Congo	Madagascar
Employee (working for someone else for pay in cash or in kind)	371 32.6%	499 12.9%
Employer (employing one or more employees)	58 5.1%	95 2.5%
Own‐account worker (not employing any employee)	569 50%	1040 26.9%
Member of a producers’ cooperative	6 0.5%	-
Helping without pay in the business or farm of another household/family member	101 8.9%	2201 43.6%
Other (specify)	32 2.5%	32 0.8%
Total	1137 100%	3867 100%

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 8. Fringe benefits young workers could get access to.

Statement	Congo	Madagascar
Transport or transport allowance	161 43.4%	50 10.1%
Meals or Meal allowance	125 33.7%	302 61.3%
Annual paid leave (holiday time)	97 26.1%	91 18.5%
Paid sick leave	102 27.5%	118 23.8%
Pension/old age insurance	80 21.6%	60 12.2%
Severance/end of service payment	83 21.6%	34 6.9%
Overtime pay	101 27.2%	73 14.8%
Medical insurance coverage	43 11.6%	148 30%
Bonus/reward for good performance	70 18.9%	27 8.5%
Social security contributions	93 25.1%	65 13.2%
Education or training Courses	90 24.3%	78 15.4%
Occupational safety/protective equipment or clothing	134 36.1%	64 13%
Childcare facilities	6 1.6%	19 3.9%
Maternity/paternity leave	109 29.4%	77 15.8%
Others	0 0%	73 14.8%
Total observations	371	493

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Figure 8. Wage employees by type of contact (% of wage employees).

Sources: World Bank Development Indicator, 2019.

Table 9. Employment status by Educational attainment, Congo.

Statement	No qualifications	Primary	Lower general secondary	Upper general secondary	Lower professional secondary	Upper professional secondary e	Professional Certificate (secondary level)	Professional Certificate (post-secondary level)	University	Others	Total
Employee (working for someone else for pay in cash or in kind)	29 24.6%	70 24.5%	83 22.8%	46 55.4%	10 62.5%	23 56.1%	22 71%	14 70%	41 60%	0 0%	338
Employer (employing one or more employees)	8 6.8%	14 4.9%	17 6.7%	5 6%	0 0%	2 4.9%	1 3.2%	0 0%	4 5.9%	0 0%	51
Own‐account worker (not employing any employee)	75 63.6%	167 58.4%	136 53.8%	26 31.3%	6 37.5%	14 34.1%	8 25.8%	4 20%	18 26.5%	0 0%	455
Member of a producers’ cooperative	0 0%	4 1.4%	1 0.4%	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%	5
Helping without pay in the business or farm of another household/family member	5 4.2%	20 7%	8 3.2%	6 7.2%	0 0%	1 2.4%	0 0%	1 5%	2 2.9%	0 0%	43
Other (specify)	1 0.8%	11 3.8%	8 3.2%	0 0%	0 0%	1 2.4%	0 0%	1 5%	3 4.4%	0 0%	25
Total	118	286	253	83	16	41	31	20	68	0	917

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 10. Employment status by Educational attainment, Madagascar.

Statement	No qualifications	Primary	Vocational school (secondary)	Secondary level	Vocational (post-secondary)	University	Post-graduate,	Total
Employee (working for someone else for pay in cash or in kind)	10 9.8%	189 10.9%	5 18.5%	195 21.4%	3 42.9%	31 62%	1 50%	434
Employer (employing one or more employees)	2 2%	43 2.5%	3 11.3%	30 3.3%	0 0%	2 4%	0 0%	80
Own‐account worker (not employing any employee)	29 28.4%	495 28.6%	8 29.6%	278 30.4%	2 38.6%	8 16%	1 50%	821
Helping without pay in the business or farm of another household/family member	61 59.8%	988 57.2%	11 40.7%	405 44.4%	2 28.6%	9 18%	0 0%	1476
Other (specify)	0 0%	13 0.8%	0 0%	5 0.5%	0 0%	0 0%	0 0%	18
Total	102	1728	27	913	7	50	2	2829

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 11. Wages Workers by type of contract and educational attainment, Congo.

Statement	No qualifications	Primary	Lower secondary	Upper secondary	Lower professional secondary	Upper professional secondary	Professional Certificate (secondary level)	Professional Certificate (post-secondary level)	University	Total
A written agreement	2 2.7%	10 4.5%	20 9.9%	6 10.2%	5 27.8%	7 23.3%	6 24%	9 64.3%	22 33.3%	87
An oral agreement	32 43.2%	69 31.4%	59 29.1%	14 23.7%	4 22.2%	11 36.7%	6 24%	2 14.3%	11 16.7%	208
No contract (self-employed, unpaid, ect.)	40 54.1%	141 64.1%	124 61.1%	39 66.1%	9 50%	12 40%	13 52%	3 21.4%	33 50%	414
Total	74 100%	220 100%	203 100%	59 100%	18 100%	30 100%	25 100%	14 100%	66 100%	709

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 12. Wages Workers by type of contract and educational attainment, Madagascar.

Statement	No qualifications	Primary	Vocational school (secondary)	Secondary level	Vocational school (post-secondary)	University	Post-graduate, post-doctoral level	Total
A written agreement	0 0%	4 10.5%	2 5.3%	20 52.6%	1 2.6%	10 26.3%	1 2.6%	38 100%
An oral agreement	2.1.7%	64 52.9%	2 1.7%	49 40.5%	1 0.8%	3 2.5%	0 0%	121 100%
No contract (self-employed, unpaid, ect.)	56 4.1%	800 58.8%	11 0.8%	466 34.3%	2 0.1%	24 1.8%	1 0.1%	1360 100%
Total	58	868	15	535	4	37	2	1519

Source: ILO, SWIT-2015.

Table 13. Wage Regression, Dependent variable log Wage.

Explanatory variable	Congo	Madagascar
Primary	−0.25*** (0.07)	0.45* (0.000)
Lower secondary	0.07 (0.62)	0.98* (0.000)
Upper secondary	(0.24 0.19)	1.07 (0.15)
Vocational	0.03 (0.91)	1.37* (0.000)
College	0.37** (0.04)	1.60* (0.000)
Age	0.13 (0.42)	0.88 (0.85)
Age 2	−0.001*** (0.09)	0.06 (0.58)
Constant	10.25* (0.000)	2.77* (0.000)
Total No. Ob	330	354

(*), (**), (***) denotes significant at 1%, 5% and 10% level respectively.

p value in ().

Table A1. Unemployment, youth total (% of total labour force ages 15–24), Selected African countries, 2005–2019.

Country Name	2005	2010	2015	2019	2005	2010	2015	2019
Algeria	30.713	21.843	29.73	29.506	Lesotho	42.46	37.383	34.927
Angola	8.48	19.466	16.875	15.982	Liberia	3.099	3.17	1.554
Benin	1.212	2.208	5.32	4.397	Madagascar	2.274	6.821	3.309
Botswana	36.766	35.28	35.969	37.35	Malawi	7.892	7.804	7.748
Burkina Faso	4.9	5.949	8.523	8.307	Mali	12.577	10.584	18.088
Cabo Verde	22.278	24.641	30.141	28.009	Mauritius	25.62	23.182	25.021
Burundi	3.031	3.005	2.86	2.693	Mauritania	14.288	14.881	15.101
Cameroon	6.555	6.297	6.009	5.819	Morocco	15.897	17.772	20.92
Chad	2.071	2.528	2.989	3.086	Mozambique	6.496	6.943	7.154
Central African Republic	6.23	6.222	6.01	5.706	Niger	5.443	0.843	0.67
Comoros	9.715	10.01	10.114	9.88	Nigeria	9.429	9.468	7.812
Congo, Rep.	39.953	29.798	22.177	21.367	Rwanda	1.325	1.664	1.894
Congo, Dem. Rep.	4.715	7.199	8.262	7.977	Sierra Leone	5.318	7.334	9.435
Cote d’Ivoire	7.589	9.38	4.558	5.138	Senegal	13.256	13.175	8.022
Egypt, Arab Rep.	31.242	24.534	34.286	31.053	Somalia	18.055	17.913	17.484
Equatorial Guinea	12.332	12.746	12.767	12.306	South Africa	55.944	50.527	50.321
Eritrea	8.538	8.82	8.966	8.763	Sudan	28.368	28.544	32.612
Ethiopia	3.583	3.499	3.355	3.231	Togo	6.913	3.54	3.757
Gabon	33.218	35.902	36.217	35.952	Tunisia	28.063	29.485	34.159
Gambia, The	12.998	12.862	12.8	12.465	Tanzania	6.015	5.807	3.693
Guinea	5.49	5.521	5.47	5.316	Uganda	3.066	5.491	2.618
Ghana	10.585	11.153	14.173	9.157	Zambia	28.211	26.839	19.731
Kenya	7.024	7.286	7.403	7.239	Zimbabwe	7.52	8.259	8.577

Source: World Bank Development Indicator

Awad, A. (2019). Economic globalisation and youth unemployment – Evidence from African countries. International Economic Journal, 33(2), 252–269. https://doi.org/10.1080/10168737.2019.1604787

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