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The scramble for Africans: demography, globalisation and Africa’s informal labour markets

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  • Meagher, Kate

Abstract

Images of an 'African Boom' have presented us with labour markets full of dynamic potential: a declining dependency ratio; low levels of unemployment; and a vibrant middle class. This buoyant view of African labour markets conceals a less encouraging reality of catastrophic youth unemployment and expanding informality. How has the continent known for the world's highest share of informal labour become a beacon of prosperity? This article will explore the reality beneath the outbreak of informal economic optimism, and consider why African labour markets are being painted in such rosy colours.

Suggested Citation

  • Meagher, Kate, 2016. "The scramble for Africans: demography, globalisation and Africa’s informal labour markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62141, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:62141
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/62141/
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    1. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4396 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Philippe Bocquier, 2005. "Informal sector versus informal contracts in Nairobi, Kenya," Working Papers DT/2005/10, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
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    Cited by:

    1. Shashwati Banerjee & Kishor Goswami, 2020. "Self-employed or Paid Employed: Who can Earn more among the Slum Dwellers and Why?," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 20(1), pages 7-25, January.
    2. Anda David & Yoro Diallo & Björn Nilsson, 2023. "Informality and Inequality: The African Case," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 273-295.
    3. Radley, Ben, 2020. "A distributional analysis of artisanal and industrial wage levels and expenditure in the Congolese mining sector," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106512, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Kate Meagher, 2019. "Working in Chains: African Informal Workers and Global Value Chains," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 8(1-2), pages 64-92, April.
    5. Pritish Behuria, 2018. "The politics of upgrading in global value chains: The case of Rwanda’s coffee sector," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-108-18, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    6. Kate Meagher, 2018. "Cannibalizing the Informal Economy: Frugal Innovation and Economic Inclusion in Africa," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(1), pages 17-33, January.
    7. Graf, Sarah Lena & Oya, Carlos, 2021. "Is the system of rice intensification (SRI) pro poor? Labour, class and technological change in West Africa," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    8. Gengzhi Huang & Desheng Xue & Bo Wang, 2020. "Integrating Theories on Informal Economies: An Examination of Causes of Urban Informal Economies in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-16, March.
    9. Nick Bernards & Malcolm Campbell‐Verduyn & Daivi Rodima‐Taylor & Jerome Duberry & Quinn DuPont & Andreas Dimmelmeier & Moritz Huetten & Laura C. Mahrenbach & Tony Porter & Bernhard Reinsberg, 2020. "Interrogating Technology‐led Experiments in Sustainability Governance," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 11(4), pages 523-531, September.
    10. Ben Radley, 2020. "The End of the African Mining Enclave? Domestic Marginalization and Labour Fragmentation in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(3), pages 794-816, May.
    11. Mohammad Amir Anwar & Mark Graham, 2020. "Hidden transcripts of the gig economy: labour agency and the new art of resistance among African gig workers," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(7), pages 1269-1291, October.
    12. Mpendulo Harold Thulare & Inocent Moyo & Sifiso Xulu, 2021. "Systematic Review of Informal Urban Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-18, October.
    13. Iva Peša, 2018. "The Developmental Potential of Frugal Innovation among Mobile Money Agents in Kitwe, Zambia," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(1), pages 49-65, January.
    14. Alessandra Mezzadri, 2022. "The Social Reproduction of Pandemic Surplus Populations and Global Development Narratives on Inequality and Informal Labour," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(6), pages 1230-1253, November.
    15. Richard Kiaka & Shiela Chikulo & Sacha Slootheer & Paul Hebinck, 2021. "“The street is ours”. A comparative analysis of street trading, Covid-19 and new street geographies in Harare, Zimbabwe and Kisumu, Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(5), pages 1263-1281, October.
    16. Katarzyna Cieslik & Roland Banya & Bhaskar Vira, 2022. "Offline contexts of online jobs: Platform drivers, decent work, and informality in Lagos, Nigeria," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(4), July.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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