The ILO in a report indicates that population growth continues to shape Sub-Saharan Africa’s labour force.
The previous year 2023 was characterized by a 3.3 per centy growth in the labor force size equivalent to an additional 53 million working-age individuals compared to 2019. Despite the marginal decrease from the 2010-2019 average of 68 per cent, the labor force participation rate maintained around 67 per cent in 2023, remaining consistent with the pre-pandemic level of 2019.
In projecting the estimate for 2024, the report takes account of unemployment and underemployment figures in the past year and previous years.
Unemployment has remained slightly elevated throughout the pandemic, with youth facing a higher risk.
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The average unemployment rate, estimated at 5.8 per cent in 2023, has seen a marginal decrease from 5.9 per cent in 2019, affecting a total of 27 million people. Youth unemployment stands at 8.9 per cent, impacting 9.4 million individuals. With a growing working-age population, young people are susceptible to disillusionment and detachment from the labor market due to challenges in securing decent and productive work upon entry.
In 2023, around 62 million young individuals were Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET), constituting 25.9 per cent of the youth population, up from 22.2 per cent in 2013.
Employment is aligning with the expanding labor force, yet the nature of jobs may not be experiencing enhancements.
In 2023, total hours worked increased by 3.4 per cent, surpassing the 2.8 per cent growth recorded in 2019. Job creation is in sync with the expanding labor force. Mean hours worked per employed person remain consistent with pre-pandemic levels, standing at 38.2 hours per week for both 2023 and 2019. The subregion’s low average hours, particularly in many low or middle-income countries, suggest a likelihood of underemployment. This underscores the necessity for newly created jobs to be both decent and productive.
The report further highlights that not all employed individuals hold decent and productive jobs, with substantial deficits in decent work prevalent in the subregion.
It states that informal employment constituted 86.5 per cent of total employment in 2023, nearly the same as a decade earlier (87.2 per cent in 2013). In 2023, almost 60 per cent of individuals were employed but resided in households below the “moderately poor” international poverty threshold of US$3.65 per person per day in PPP terms (a decrease from 63.8 per cent in 2013). These challenges persist widely, particularly in rural areas.
