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Wages and Labor Management in African Manufacturing

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  • Marcel Fafchamps
  • Måns Söderbom

Abstract

Using matched employer-employee data on 10 African countries, this paper examines the relationship beween wages, worker supervision, and labor productivity in manufacturing. Wages increase with Þrm size for both production workers and supervisors. We develop a two-tier model of supervision that can account for this stylized fact and we Þt the structural model to the data. Employee data is used to derive a Þrm-speciÞc wage premium that is purged of the effect of worker observables. We Þnd a strong effect of both supervision and wages on effort and hence on labor productivity. Labor management in sub-Saharan Africa appears problematic, with much higher supervisor-to-worker ratios than in Morocco and a higher elasticity of effort with respect to supervision.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcel Fafchamps & Måns Söderbom, 2004. "Wages and Labor Management in African Manufacturing," CSAE Working Paper Series 2004-02, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2004-02
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    Cited by:

    1. Christophe MULLER & Christophe NORDMAN, 2001. "Wages and Human Capital in Exporting Firms in Morocco," Middle East and North Africa 330400044, EcoMod.
    2. Samuel Bowles & Arjun Jayadev, 2004. "Guard Labor: An Essay in Honor of Pranab Bardhan," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2004-15, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    3. Perroni, Carlo & Proto, Eugenio, 2007. "Moral Hazard and Entrepreneurial Failure in a Two-sector Model of Productive Matching - with an Application to the Natural Resource Curse," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 796, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    4. Marcel Fafchamps & Mans Söderbom & Najy Benhassine, 2009. "Wage Gaps and Job Sorting in African Manufacturing," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 18(5), pages 824-868, November.
    5. Christophe Muller & Christophe J. Nordman, 2014. "Task organization, human capital, and wages in Moroccan exporting firms," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 175-198, July.
    6. Caroline Krafft & Ragui Assaad, 2018. "Do More Productive Firms Pay Workers More? Evidence from Egypt," Working Papers 1222, Economic Research Forum, revised 18 Sep 2018.
    7. Tetsushi Sonobe & John Akoten & Keijiro Otsuka, 2011. "The growth process of informal enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa: a case study of a metalworking cluster in Nairobi," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 323-335, April.
    8. Fafchamps, Marcel & Gabre-Madhin, Eleni Z., 2006. "Agricultural markets in Benin and Malawi," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 1(1), pages 1-28, November.
    9. Arne Bigsten & Mans Söderbom, 2006. "What Have We Learned from a Decade of Manufacturing Enterprise Surveys in Africa?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 21(2), pages 241-265.
    10. Guiying Laura Wu, 2015. "Investment Frictions and the Aggregate Output Loss in China," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(3), pages 437-465, June.
    11. Jayadev, Arjun & Bowles, Samuel, 2006. "Guard labor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 328-348, April.
    12. Jellal, Mohamed, 2014. "Firmes industrielles incitations et formation approche théorique [Industrial firms incentives and training Policy theoretical approach]," MPRA Paper 57306, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Cettolin, Elena & Cole, Kym & Dalton, Patricio, 2022. "Improving Workers’ Performance in Small Firms : A Randomized Experiment on Goal Setting in Ghana," Other publications TiSEM d0f494f0-87ed-4ef2-8472-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    14. Paul Beaudry & Patrick Francois, 2010. "Managerial Skills Acquisition and the Theory of Economic Development," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(1), pages 90-126.
    15. Jellal, Mohamed, 2012. "Maroc salaire minimum emploi et pauvreté [Morocco minimum wage employment and poverty]," MPRA Paper 38491, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Marcel Fafchamps, 2007. "Human Capital, Exports, and Wages," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-069, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    17. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4374 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Fox, Louise & Oviedo, Ana Maria, 2008. "Are skills rewarded in Sub-Saharan Africa ? determinants of wages and productivity in the manufacturing sector," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4688, The World Bank.

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    • O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth
    • P - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems

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