Employment is, indeed, a central topic in the world today and for tomorrow and your starting contribution was indeed excellent and triggered a very good debate. It is not my specific area, as you know, I am sociologist involved in futures studies since 1970 and also now honorary member of the Club of Rome.
I wish just to mention one reflection I have not seen in any contribution: the mention of women's unemployment and the reasons for it being higher in all countries than that of men. At the same time in the area of the European Union migration of women is filling the needs of the countries for jobs generated by the aging population. The structure of the population and its long term affecting changes are crucial for the future of all countries (as has also been discussed in GEC) and strongly related to growing immigration, for example in all Western European countries.
It would be interesting to have this looked at specially in the new topic on youth and unemployment in Africa which I think is very future oriented. The relation of this phenomenon to the decrease of tourism in Africa, as has been said by a participant, is very interesting. In my not recent experience in Africa, also the increase in educational level and hence the unwillingness of the younger educated generation to go back to their agricultural environment or return to their countries when migrated to other counties outside of Africa , has a great impact in various ways in African countries. The issue of women is also very serious in relation to employment in Africa, reasons are : education of girls is less important than men's as they have to help their families and they are the ones usually also working in the agricultural areas. Are they any members of WAAS from Africa?
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women's unemployment
It is still a serious problem and in Africa it is even more so with migration consequences specially towards Europe where in many countries it is difficult for women to acquire official residence Recently Unesco has published an important text on women in Africa
Eleonora Barbieri Masini
women's unemployment
U.N. labor agency (ILO) said in an 82-page report, that it expected unemployment to remain high through 2010. In 2009 27 million people around the world lost their jobs. Unemployment rates were more stable last year in Africa but working conditions were deteriorating especially in areas of low labor productivity sub-Saharan Africa.
Global unemployment rate was 6.6 percent in 2009 but that the true scope of the problem is much worse because over 600 million workers and their families are surviving on less than $1.25 a day. Another 200 million are just above the international poverty line.
Sub-Sahara Africa : total unemployment (millions) 2009
Source: http://docs.iol.co.za/ILO
Sub-Sahara Africa's Working Poor (million) - US$1.25 per day
Source: http://docs.iol.co.za/ILO
Unemployment rates for women
Unemployment rates for women are generally lower than those of men in the US. Off the top of my head, I think this began in the 1970s--before which time female unemp was higher. Of course, female pay still lags considerably. As we moved to more contingent employment that seems to have reduced female unemp. Note the job guarantee offers a job to anyone who wants to work, regardless of gender, experience, education, or skills. It will elminate the unemp gap in all countries that adopt it.
L. Randall Wray
Professor of Economics
University of Missouri--Kansas City
and Senior Scholar, Levy Economics Institute
www.levy.org
and http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/
data provided by Dr Greg Mills, Danish Africa Commission (2008)
Some data provided by Dr Greg Mills, Danish Africa Commission, Gender Conference on "Women and Employment in Africa", Maputo, 15 August 2008
http://www.africacommission.um.dk/NR/rdonlyres/D168A31F-CD56-462F-8F2B-B50252FF839C/0/NotesbyDrGregMillsMaputoAugust2008.pdf
quote:
(i) Around just 10 percent of all wages in Africa go to women
(ii) Women on average work 10-15 hours more per week than men
(iii) African women own only around one percent of the continent's overall economy
(iv) Today’s Africa’s share of the world’s young population (0-24) is 15%; by 2025 it will be 25%
(v) by 2040, the percentage of Africa’s population that are of working age will increase from 50% today to about 65%, the same level that the rest of the world is at on average. .....(cut)....
(vi) primary (education) completion rates for women have improved from 46% to 55% between 1991 and 2006, these still lag behind the comparative rates for men, 56% and 65%.
Dr Greg Mills also asked (and I welcome responses to the following):
(i) (What are).... some practical suggestions and solutions as to how the tremendous potential of Africa’s working population and especially its women can be unleashed in the most productive ways.
(ii) How might we realise the unrealised potential in African agriculture?
(iii) where should emphasis be placed on infrastructure to open up rural and urban economies?
(iv) What can be done to spur African women entrepreneurship in terms of access to finance in particular?
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under-employment rates between young men and women (in %) in SSA
One of the reasons for a lower employment rate of women in Africa is due to early marriage. We have seen a similar trend in the early years of development in most industrialised countries too. We can expect the same pattern and see it in different stages in different African countries now.
The World Bank report quotes from United Nations. 2007. “World Youth Report 2007: Young People’s Transition to Adulthood: Progress and Challenges.” that most female youth marry before they reach 24 years of old.
In Mozambique - 47% of females married before the age of 19;
in Chad 49%;
in Guinea, 46%;
in Mali, 50%;
in Sierra Leone, 46%;
in Niger, 62%
In rural areas, the median age of first marriage for women is as low as
15.2 in Niger (1998),
15.8 in Chad (1997),
16.1 in Guinea (1999),
16.3 in Mali (2001),
16.7 in Ethiopia (2000) and Senegal (1997).