Unbearable Costs: When Is Inflation Impeding Job Creation? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
Unbearable Costs: When Is Inflation Impeding Job Creation? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Author: Ibrahima Camara

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2023-03-03

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13:

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Covid-19 and war-induced commodity price fluctuations, and broadening price pressures have led to a surge in inflation in many sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. To adjust to increasing costs, firms have resorted to several measures including shuttering offices, reducing businesses, laying off, and freezing hiring, thus putting at risk job creation and raising concerns of youth unemployment. This paper explores the effects of inflation on private employment growth in SSA using a large firm -level dataset from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys. We find a non-linear relationship between inflation and job creation in SSA, with job creation being negatively correlated with inflation rate when the latter is above 14 percent. This finding holds regardless of the sector of activities of firms and the exchange rate regime. In addition, the paper finds some differential effects based on the type of products. An increase in fuel prices tends to be more detrimental to job creation than food prices. The study also provides evidence that the state of implementation of structural reforms matters. The results show that inflation reduces job opportunities mostly in countries with bad or no structural reforms.

Creating Jobs in Africa's Fragile States
Creating Jobs in Africa's Fragile States

Author: Nora Dudwick

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2013-07-18

Total Pages: 99

ISBN-13: 0821398326

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This book addresses the urgent need for job creation in conflict-affected states in sub-Saharan Africa. It finds that job creation through public works, training, and community-based livelihood often is unsustainable.

Food Inflation in Sub-Saharan Africa
Food Inflation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author: Mr.Emre Alper

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2016-12-22

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 1475563116

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This paper analyzes food inflation trends in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 2000 to 2016 using two novel datasets of disaggregated CPI baskets. Average food inflation is higher, more volatile, and similarly persistent as non-food non-fuel (NF/NF) inflation, especially in low-income countries (LICs) in SSA. We find evidence that food inflation became less persistent from 2009 onwards, related to recent improvements in monetary policy frameworks. We also find that high food prices are driven mainly by non-tradable food in SSA and there is incomplete pass-through from world food and fuel prices and exchange rates to domestic food prices. Taken together, these finding suggest that central banks in low-income countries with high and persistent food inflation should continue to pay attention to headline inflation to anchor inflation expectations. Other policy levers include reducing tariffs and improving storage and transport infrastructure to reduce food pressures.

Our Continent, Our Future
Our Continent, Our Future

Author: P. Thandika Mkandawire

Publisher: IDRC

Published: 2014-05-14

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 155250204X

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Our Continent, Our Future presents the emerging African perspective on this complex issue. The authors use as background their own extensive experience and a collection of 30 individual studies, 25 of which were from African economists, to summarize this African perspective and articulate a path for the future. They underscore the need to be sensitive to each country's unique history and current condition. They argue for a broader policy agenda and for a much more active role for the state within what is largely a market economy. Finally, they stress that Africa must, and can, compete in an increasingly globalized world and, perhaps most importantly, that Africans must assume the leading role in defining the continent's development agenda.

Private Sector Job Creation in MENA: Prioritizing the Reform Agenda
Private Sector Job Creation in MENA: Prioritizing the Reform Agenda

Author: Mr.Benedicte Baduel

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2019-09-27

Total Pages: 37

ISBN-13: 1513515799

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This paper examines the extent to which firms in selected MENA countries reported being constrained by the business environment around the time of the Arab Spring and the extent to which these constraints affected their employment performance. The results suggest that small firms in MENA faced more structural constraints than similar firms in other regions. We also find that MENA firms’ weaker job creation can be explained in great part by the macroeconomic environment and structural constraints. Low GDP growth, falling external competitiveness, corruption, lack of access to finance and poor access to electricity are found to explain a significant part of the lack of employment growth in MENA firms compared to their peers.

The Demographic Dividend
The Demographic Dividend

Author: David Bloom

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2003-02-13

Total Pages: 127

ISBN-13: 0833033735

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There is long-standing debate on how population growth affects national economies. A new report from Population Matters examines the history of this debate and synthesizes current research on the topic. The authors, led by Harvard economist David Bloom, conclude that population age structure, more than size or growth per se, affects economic development, and that reducing high fertility can create opportunities for economic growth if the right kinds of educational, health, and labor-market policies are in place. The report also examines specific regions of the world and how their differing policy environments have affected the relationship between population change and economic development.

Safety Net Programs and Poverty Reduction
Safety Net Programs and Poverty Reduction

Author: K. Subbarao

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13:

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The need for social safety nets has become a key component of poverty reduction strategies. Over the past three decades several developing countries have launched a variety of programs, including cash transfers, subsidies in-kind, public works, and income-generation programs. However, there is little guidance on appropriate program design, and few studies have synthesized the lessons from widely differing country experiences. This report fills that gap. It reviews the conceptual issues in the choice of programs, synthesizes cross-country experience, and analyzes how country- and region-specific constraints can explain why different approaches are successful in different countries.

The Challenge of Youth Employment in Sri Lanka
The Challenge of Youth Employment in Sri Lanka

Author: Ramani Gunatlilaka

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2010-05-11

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 0821381180

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Sri Lanka has long been regarded as a model of a successful welfare state in a low-income setting, yet it has not succeeded in creating a sufficient number of good jobs for the increasing number of young people. Hence, young Sri Lankans perceive their country as an unjust and unequal society, in which mainstream institutions have failed to address inequalities in the distribution of resources, as well as of benefits deriving from economic growth. Against this background, 'The Challenge of Youth Employment in Sri Lanka' aims to identify ways to improve the opportunities available to new job market entrants by addressing existing inequalities and to help young people more fully realize their potentials. Drawing from original research and a review of existing studies, the authors use the 4Es conceptual framework to analyze four key aspects of labor markets employment creation, employability, entrepreneurship, and equal opportunity identifying main issues and results, current trends, and possible new approaches.

External Debt and Capital Flight in Sub-Saharan Africa
External Debt and Capital Flight in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author: Mr.Mohsin S. Khan

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2000-05-12

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9781557757913

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Mounting external debt and large-scale capital flight have been at the forefront of Africa's economic problems since the 1980s. External Debt and Capital Flight in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by S. Ibi Ajayi and Mohsin S. Khan, takes a penetrating look at debt and capital flight during the 1990s in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. The book describes the size and composition of debt in the selected countries and examines the causes of the debt buildup. It also assesses the extent of capital flight and suggests ways of stemming the flight of financial resources.