Wages and Employment in Africa

Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2002: Analyzing labour market trends in sub-Saharan Africa since 1970, this volume employs data collected from the International Labor Organization (ILO), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and World Bank (the RPED surveys). It examines the economics of the labour market against the presistent decline in real wages over some 20 years in some of these countries. Setting the African story against the background of wage-employment trends in other regions of the world, the author proceeds to examine the impact of this decline on the rural-urban earnings gap. The consequences of the declining wage levels on the lifetime earnings of workers and on trends in labour productivity are then discussed, followed by an analysis of the employment and wage structure in African manufacturing firms.