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Rural Employment in Africa: Trends and Challenges

Author

Listed:
  • Luc Christiaensen

    (World Bank Group, Rome, Italy)

  • Miet Maertens

    (Division of Bioeconomics, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium)

Abstract

Africa's rural population continues to expand rapidly, and labor productivity in agriculture and many rural-off farm activities remains low. This review uses the lens of a dual economy and the associated patterns of agricultural, rural, and structural transformation to review the evolution of Africa's rural employment and its inclusiveness. Many African countries still find themselves in an early stage of the agricultural and rural transformation. Given smaller sectoral productivity gaps than commonly assumed, greater size effects, and larger spillovers, investment in agriculture and the rural off-farm economy remains warranted to broker the transition to more and more productive rural employment. The key policy questions thus become how best to invest in the agri-food system (on and increasingly also off the farm) and how best to generate demand for nonagricultural goods and services that rural households can competitively produce. Informing these choices continues to present a major research agenda, with digital technologies, the imperative of greening, and intra-African liberalization raising many unarticulated and undocumented opportunities and challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Luc Christiaensen & Miet Maertens, 2022. "Rural Employment in Africa: Trends and Challenges," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 267-289, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:reseco:v:14:y:2022:p:267-289
    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-resource-111820-014312
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. repec:ags:aaea22:335612 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Musungu, Arnold L. & Kubik, Zaneta & Qaim, Matin, 2023. "Drought Shocks and Labor Reallocation in Rural Africa: Evidence from Ethiopia," Discussion Papers 338675, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    3. Pracht, Wyatt & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob, 2022. "Building Sustainable Supply Chains: A Model of Youth Input Resellers in Kenya," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322141, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Pracht, Wyatt & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob, 2024. "Can Agricultural Value Chain Programs Help Rural Youth Increase their Income? Short- and Medium-term Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Kenya," IAAE 2024 Conference, August 2-7, 2024, New Delhi, India 344276, International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).
    5. Anna Fabry & Monica Schuster & Miet Maertens, 2024. "Decent and equal work in agri‐food systems: Evidence from Peru," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(2), pages 803-830, June.
    6. Meemken, Eva-Marie & Aremu, Olayinka & Fabry, Anna & Heepen, Celestina & Illien, Patrick & Kammer, Marie & Laitha, Andrew, 2024. "Policy for decent work in agriculture," IAAE 2024 Conference, August 2-7, 2024, New Delhi, India 344353, International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).
    7. Nouran Abdelhamid Abdelgawwad & Abdelmonem Lotfy Mohamed Kamal, 2023. "Contributions of Investment and Employment to the Agricultural GDP Growth in Egypt: An ARDL Approach," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-16, August.
    8. Stemmler, Henry & Meemken, Eva-Marie, 2023. "Greenhouse farming and employment: Evidence from Ecuador," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    9. Aihounton, Ghislain & Christiaensen, Luc, 2024. "Does agricultural intensification pay in the context of structural transformation?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    decent work; dual economy; gender; productive employment; rural migration; youth employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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