Overview: Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Introduces issues surrounding youth employment in Sub-Saharan Africa, including the demographic transition which created the youth bulge that is entering African labor markets; the role of mineral exports; the largely untapped reservoir of opportunities in farming; the massive expansion in access to education; and the aspirations of youth and policy makers. Obstacles faced by households and firms in meeting the youth employment challenge center primarily on productivity because productivity contributes to higher earnings as well as to more stable, less vulnerable, livelihoods. Human capital and the business environment comprise two dimensions that shape young people’s potential to find a pathway to productive work in the three main sectors of agriculture, nonfarm household enterprises, and modern wage employment. On the human capital side, the role of basic education dominates interventions in all three sectors. The business environment component involves enabling access to finance and secure land tenure, infrastructure services, and access to finance.