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1. Unemployment in the SADC Region

Author:
Johanne Motsatsi
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis
Abstract:
The objective of this study is to estimate the determinants of unemployment in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region using annual data from 2000 to 2016. Given the characteristic of the data, the study adopts Fixed Effect (FE) estimation technique. For further analysis, the study also estimated the ARDL panel model to capture persistence effect of unemployment in the region. The FE results reveals that real GDP, foreign direct investment, consumer price index, credit to the private sector and interest rate are negatively related to unemployment. While trade openness, labour productivity and population have a positive sign. The results estimated with ARDL model are not very different from those of FE model, but we obtained a noticeably smaller estimates for ARDL model. Variables which have negative association with unemployment suggest that they are likely to reduce unemployment. Therefore, such indicators may be of interest to policy makers when formulating unemployment reduction strategies. In terms of policy advise, the study recommends the government of SADC member states to encourage the education system that can equip leaners with entrepreneurial skills and in-job practical skills, in order to promote high success rate of SMMEs as well as to provide skills needed in the labour market. It also recommended enforcement of free trade of goods and services in the region as a means of making the industrial sector an engine of economic growth in order to create much needed employment.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Labor Issues, Employment, Labor Policies, Macroeconomics, and Unemployment
Political Geography:
Africa and Botswana

2. Fifth Africa Think Tank Summit -- Tackling Africa’s Youth Unemployment Challenge: Innovative Solutions from Think Tanks

Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
The Fifth Africa Think Tank Summit was held on 5 - 7 April 2018 at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra, Ghana, under the theme “Tackling Africa’s Youth Unemployment Challenge: Innovative Solutions from Think Tanks”. The Summit’s theme was based on the fact that jobs and opportunity for the youth are top priorities in the world today and while needing jobs, young people are also critical in creating them. It is with that understanding that the African Union Commission declared the years 2009–2018 as the “Decade for Youth Development”. A review, as the decade winds to an end, shows that while some African countries are experiencing high economic growth rates, these have not translated into jobs. The unemployment rate on the continent was approximately 8.0 percent in 2016- 2017, which, translated into absolute terms, corresponds to an increase in total unemployment of 1.2 million from 2016 to 2017. The reality, against which the Summit’s theme was designed, was that across Africa, youth are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults! The Summit’s concept paper, quoting a report from the African Development Bank, notes that “half of all youth (in Africa) are either unemployed or inactive while 35 percent are in vulnerable jobs. While gender inequality remains a challenge, a big concern and paradox is that youth unemployment rate is increasing with the level of education, suggesting that Africa’s education systems are not preparing people enough for the labour market”. Thus, despite the numerous policies and strategies that have been implemented across African countries to address youth unemployment, these have not led to any major breakthrough in job creation especially among the youth. Given these realities and building on the successes of the first, second, third and fourth Africa Think Tank, the fifth was being organized to harvest evidence and proffer actions to tackle youth unemployment on the continent. The 2018 Summit was organized in partnership with the Government of Ghana and the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), a leading think tank in Ghana. Other collaborating partners were the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (CA), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Think Tank Initiative, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI) and the Alliance for African Partnership (AAP).
Topic:
Development, Labor Issues, Employment, Youth, Labor Policies, Capacity, Unemployment, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Africa, Ghana, and Global

3. Why northern Ghana lags behind in Ghana’s growth and poverty reduction success

Author:
John Baptist D. Jatoe, Ramatu Al-Hassan, and Bamidele Adekunle
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Abstract:
Ghana’s post adjustment growth and poverty reduction performance has been hailed as impressive, albeit with spatial disparities in the distribution of welfare, especially between the north and south of the country. Researchers generally agree that economic growth does not always reduce poverty. Indeed, the effectiveness of growth in reducing poverty depends on the level of inequality in the population. Growth that increases inequality may not reduce poverty; growth that does not change inequality (distribution-neutral growth) and growth that reduces inequality (pro-poor growth) result in poverty reduction. Policy makers can promote pro-poor growth by empowering the poor to participate in growth directly. Policy makers can focus on interventions that improve productivity in smallholder agriculture, particularly export crops, increasing employment of semi-skilled or unskilled labour, promoting technology adoption, increasing access to production assets, as well as effective participation in input and product markets. Also, increasing public spending on social services and infrastructure made possible by redistribution of the benefits of growth benefits the poor, indirectly.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, Poverty, Labor Issues, Economic growth, Labor Policies, Economic Policy, and Macroeconomics
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana