Malawi’s challenging employment landscape: Any signs of structural transformation? Synopsis
Malawi’s challenging employment landscape: Any signs of structural transformation? Synopsis

Author: Baulch, Bob

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published:

Total Pages: 4

ISBN-13:

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This policy note examines employment patterns for evidence of the extent to which a structural transformation is underway in Malawi. We explore whether Malawi’s labor force shifted out of the subsistence agriculture sector and into the industry and service sectors. To better understand the role of the large youth population in structural transformation, we assess the extent of youth employment in agriculture and in services, and the factors shaping their choices. We conclude with a discussion of how policy can support transformation and job creation for youth.

Malawi's challenging employment landscape
Malawi's challenging employment landscape

Author: Baulch, Bob

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2019-01-16

Total Pages: 22

ISBN-13:

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Using three rounds of the Integrated Household Survey conducted between 2004 and 2016, this paper examines Malawi’s challenging employment landscape, focusing on its rapidly growing youth. It finds little evidence of a structural transformation in Malawi’s economy or of youth being in the vanguard of any changes in cross-sectoral patterns of employment. Most Malawians spend all of their working years in the agricultural sector – indeed, the share of employment in agriculture in Malawi rose slightly between 2004 and 2016, though the share of full-time jobs inside agriculture declined during this period. Tabular analysis and multivariate modelling of employment choices show that youth are not participating in the limited growth that has occurred in services. Agriculture remains the sector in which most Malawians first obtain employment, and it is only later in their working lives that Malawian workers, particularly males, are in a position to obtain employment outside of agriculture alone. Malawi’s challenging employment landscape for youth is characterized by a scarcity of jobs outside agriculture and insufficient work hours within agriculture.

Youth Employment Programs in Ghana
Youth Employment Programs in Ghana

Author: Christabel Dadzie

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2020-09-04

Total Pages: 83

ISBN-13: 1464815798

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Unemployment and underemployment are global development challenges. The situation in Ghana is no different. In 2016, it was projected that, given the country’s growing youth population, 300,000 new jobs would need to be created each year to absorb the increasing numbers of unemployed young people. Yet the employment structure of the Ghanaian economy has not changed much from several decades ago. Most jobs are low skill, requiring limited cognitive or technology know-how, reflected in low earnings and work of lower quality. An additional challenge for Ghana is the need to create access to an adequate number of high-quality, productive jobs. This report seeks to increase knowledge about Ghana’s job landscape and youth employment programs to assist policy makers and key stakeholders in identifying ways to improve the effectiveness of these programs and strengthen coordination among major stakeholders. Focused, strategic, short- to medium-term and long-term responses are required to address current unemployment and underemployment challenges. Effective coordination and synergies among youth employment programs are needed to avoid duplication of effort while the country’s economic structure transforms. Effective private sector participation in skills development and employment programs is recommended. The report posits interventions in five priority areas that are not new but could potentially make an impact through scaling up: (1) agriculture and agribusiness, (2) apprenticeship (skills training), (3) entrepreneurship, (4) high-yielding areas (renewable energy†“solar, construction, tourism, sports, and green jobs), and (5) preemployment support services. Finally, with the fast-changing nature of work due to technology and artificial intelligence, Ghana needs to develop an education and training system that is versatile and helps young people to adapt and thrive in the twenty-first century world of work.

Youth and Jobs in Rural Africa
Youth and Jobs in Rural Africa

Author: Valerie Mueller

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-11-28

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0192587315

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This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Sub-Saharan Africa's rural population is growing rapidly, and more young people are entering the labour market every year. This raises serious policy questions. Can rural economies absorb enough job seekers? Could better-educated youth transform Africa's rural economies by adopting new technologies and starting businesses? Are policymakers responding to the youth employment challenge? Or will there be widespread unemployment, social instability, and an exodus to cities and abroad? Youth and Jobs in Rural Africa: Beyond Stylized Facts uses survey data to build a nuanced understanding of the constraints and opportunities facing rural youth in Africa. Addressing the questions of Africa's rural youth is currently hampered by major gaps in our knowledge and stylized facts from cross-country trends or studies that do not focus on the core issues. Youth and Jobs in Rural Africa takes a different approach, drawing on household and firm surveys from selected African countries with an explicit focus on rural youth. It argues that a balance between alarm and optimism is warranted, and that Africa's "youth bulge" is not an unprecedented challenge. Jobs in rural areas are limited, but agriculture is transforming and youth are participating, adopting new technologies and running businesses. Governments have adopted youth employment as a priority, but policies often do not address the specific needs of rural populations. Youth and Jobs in Rural Africa emphasizes that by going beyond stylized facts and drawing on more granular analysis, we can design effective policies to turn Africa's youth problem into an opportunity for rural transformation.

Malawi
Malawi

Author: International Monetary Fund. African Dept.

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 25

ISBN-13: 1484307313

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This Economic development Document presents an overview of Malawi’s Development Plan. Disappointing results with respect to implementation of Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II have triggered a qualified rethink in Malawi’s development planning process. There is a growing recognition that Malawi needs a more realistic development plan, in terms of both the underlying assumptions and resource availability, as well as with fewer priorities and a greater emphasis on implementation. Climate change has also become a major new factor in this process. The recent formation of a quasi-independent National Development and Planning Commission is expected to help in improving the independence of the planning process in Malawi.

The Growth Report
The Growth Report

Author: Commission on Growth and Development

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2008-07-23

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 0821374923

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The result of two years work by 19 experienced policymakers and two Nobel prize-winning economists, 'The Growth Report' is the most complete analysis to date of the ingredients which, if used in the right country-specific recipe, can deliver growth and help lift populations out of poverty.

World Development Report 2019
World Development Report 2019

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2018-10-31

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1464813566

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Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. New ways of production are adopted, markets expand, and societies evolve. But some changes provoke more attention than others, in part due to the vast uncertainty involved in making predictions about the future. The 2019 World Development Report will study how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today. Technological progress disrupts existing systems. A new social contract is needed to smooth the transition and guard against rising inequality. Significant investments in human capital throughout a person’s lifecycle are vital to this effort. If workers are to stay competitive against machines they need to train or retool existing skills. A social protection system that includes a minimum basic level of protection for workers and citizens can complement new forms of employment. Improved private sector policies to encourage startup activity and competition can help countries compete in the digital age. Governments also need to ensure that firms pay their fair share of taxes, in part to fund this new social contract. The 2019 World Development Report presents an analysis of these issues based upon the available evidence.

Global Trends 2040
Global Trends 2040

Author: National Intelligence Council

Publisher: Cosimo Reports

Published: 2021-03

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 9781646794973

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"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.