African Jobless Growth Morphology:Vulnerabilities and Policy Responses

As by product of economic growth, jobs are indeed transformational. In other words, efficiency increases as workers get better at what they do (as more productive jobs appear and less productive one disappear). In fact societies flourish as jobs bring together people from different ethnic and social backgrounds while providing alternatives to conflict. Unfortunately, in many African countries, unemployment rates are low and growth is seldom jobless. Regrettably, most of the poor work long hours and cannot make ends meet while the violation of basic human rights is not uncommon. Again, youth unemployment and unmet job expectations are alarming. Consequently, this paper provides a framework that cuts across sectors and shows that the best policy responses vary across African countries (depending on their levels of development, endowments, demography and institutions). Thus, at all stages of development, forcing economic production to spread evenly across areas is both elusive and expensive. Policy makers should therefore identify and execute strategies that balance development outcomes across areas by means of domestic integration instruments. However, in places where integration is hardest, the policy response should be comprehensively total: institutions that unite, infrastructure that connects, interventions that target, incentives that motivate as well as information and communication technologies that enables or drives.