Key Findings
One of the aims of this project is to produce a detailed empirical description of labor market outcomes in low-income economies based on individual-level data from a number of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. We focus on job creation in the private and public sector, labour earnings, and workers' mobility between them. We also look at the differences in some of these outcomes between men and women.
Below we document our main findings with some illustrative graphs.
Job Creation in Sub-Saharan Africa is Low
Most of the working population in least developed countries are working as own-account workers or unpaid family members. We refer to it as “subsistence sector” as most of these activities are low-productivity and low-pay, typically involving farming or petty retail. The subsistence sector comprises more than 80% of employment in most Sub-Saharan African countries (with a notable exception of South Africa and a few other countries).
While public sector employs only a small fraction of the whole workforce in the region, it comprises a considerable share of paid employees. Out of the workers working for a wage, about 25% on average are employed by the public sector. For some countries in our sample - such as Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Zambia -- this fraction exceeds 40%. For comparison, according to the ONS statistics, the current share of the public sector in the UK is about 17% of total employment.
Note: Subsistence sector consists of own account workers and unpaid family members. For South Africa, the subsistence sector also includes unemployed workers actively searching for a job. Source: Authors’ computations using household survey data.
Women tend work in subsistence, or in the public sector if working for a wage
Note: Subsistence sector consists of own account workers and unpaid family members. For South Africa, the subsistence sector also includes unemployed workers actively searching for a job. Source: Authors’ computations using household survey data.
For all countries in our sample, women are over-represented in the subsistence sector. This cannot be explained solely by differences in educational attainment between men and women: we find that even after controlling for education, age, marital status, and regions, women are less likely to be working for a wage than men.
This result can stem from women's choices as working in self-employment, family-owned farms or businesses may make it easier to combine work with household responsibilities (e.g. looking after children or elderly family members). On the other hand, it may also reflect differences in formal and informal institutions, including the lack of childcare support and societal norms.
Despite the fact that women are less likely to be working in a wage than men, once they are in employment they typically are more likely to be working in the public sector. These results hold in the regression controlling for education, age, marital status, and regions, with statistically significant differences between men and women for all countries with the exception of Benin, Guinea Bissau, Mali, and Uganda. In other countries in our sample female employees are more likely work in the public sector than their male counterparts with similar characteristics by at least 12% in South Africa and up to 48% in Malawi.
Public Sector Hires More eDucated workers and Pays higher wages
Public sector hires predominately more educated workers – the majority of public sector employees have secondary education and above. Worker composition by educational attainment between the private sector employees and the self-employed is more similar – a vast majority of those employed in the subsistence sector and in private companies have primary education or less in four out of the six countries in our sample (see Education graphs below).
The public sector in least developed countries pays significantly higher wages than the private sector. For all countries in our sample the wage distribution in the public sector lies to the right of the private sector distribution and is typically more compressed, suggesting a lower degree of wage inequality in public sector jobs.