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Where has all the education gone in Sub-Saharan Africa? Employment and other outcomes among secondary school and university leavers

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  • Al-Samarrai, Samer
  • Bennell, Paul

Abstract

Anecdotal evidence and generalisations abound concerning the employment outcomes of secondary school and university leavers, but there is very little solid, accurate information on what these groups in African countries do after they have completed their education. Using tracer surveys, this paper presents comprehensive time-series information on the activity profiles of representative samples of secondary school leavers and university graduates in Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The paper shows that much of the anecdotal evidence surrounding the labour market outcomes of these groups is spurious. While employment outcomes are generally much better than expected, the tracer surveys highlight the enormous challenges of educating and subsequently utilising secondary school leavers and university graduates in an efficient and effective manner in low-income African countries. In particular, given the paucity of new employment opportunities in the formal sector, much more needs to be done in order to ensure that both these groups are better prepared for productive self-employment, especially in high growth and higher skill activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Al-Samarrai, Samer & Bennell, Paul, 2006. "Where has all the education gone in Sub-Saharan Africa? Employment and other outcomes among secondary school and university leavers," MPRA Paper 128, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:128
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Samer Al-Samarrai & Barry Reilly, 2005. "Education, Employment and Earnings of Secondary School-Leavers in Tanzania: Evidence from a Tracer Study," PRUS Working Papers 31, Poverty Research Unit at Sussex, University of Sussex.
    2. World Bank, 2002. "Constructing Knowledge Societies : New Challenges for Tertiary Education," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15224, December.
    3. Commander, Simon & Kangasniemi, Mari & Winters, L. Alan, 2003. "The Brain Drain: Curse or Boon?," IZA Discussion Papers 809, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Mr. William Carrington & Ms. Enrica Detragiache, 1998. "How Big is the Brain Drain?," IMF Working Papers 1998/102, International Monetary Fund.
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    Cited by:

    1. Atsede D. Tegegne & Marianne Penker & Maria Wurzinger, 2016. "Participatory Demographic Scenarios Addressing Uncertainty and Transformative Change in Ethiopia," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 277-296, June.
    2. Alexandre Larouche & Dorothée Boccanfuso & Mircea Trandafir, 2011. "The impact of the PDEF on the labour market outcomes of «high-skilled» workers in Senegal," EcoMod2011 3572, EcoMod.
    3. Kodila-Tedika , Oasis, 2014. "Forget your gods: African evidence on the relation between state capacity and cognitive ability of leading politicians," European Economic Letters, European Economics Letters Group, vol. 3(1), pages 7-11.
    4. Alexander W. Cappelen & Rune Jansen Hagen & Erik Ø. Sørensen & Bertil Tungodden, 2014. "Do Non-Enforceable Contracts Matter? Evidence from an International Lab Experiment," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(1), pages 100-113, March.
    5. Monica J. Grant, 2015. "The Demographic Promise of Expanded Female Education: Trends in the Age at First Birth in Malawi," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 41(3), pages 409-438, September.
    6. Benson John & Natalie Nitsche, 2021. "Stalls and reversals in age at first marriage in sub-Saharan Africa: the role of female education expansion," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2021-022, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    7. Cappelen, Alexander W. & Hagen, Rune Jansen & Sørensen, Erik Ø. & Tungodden, Bertil, 2012. "DO NON-ENFORCEABLE CONTRACTS MATTER? EVIDENCE FROM AN INTERNATIONAL LAB EXPERIMENT Department," Working Papers in Economics 16/12, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    8. André Mollick, 2011. "The world elasticity of labor substitution across education levels," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 769-785, December.
    9. Jacques Zeelen, 2012. "Universities in Africa: Working on Excellence for Whom? Reflections on Teaching, Research, and Outreach Activities at African Universities," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 1(2), pages 157-157, November.
    10. Rebecca Simson, 2020. "The Rise and Fall of the Bureaucratic Bourgeoisie: Public Sector Employees and Economic Privilege in Postcolonial Kenya and Tanzania," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 607-635, July.
    11. Bennell, Paul, 2021. "The political economy of attaining Universal Primary Education in sub-Saharan Africa: The politics of UPE implementation," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Sam Jones & Ricardo Santos & Gimelgo Xirinda, 2020. "Misinformed, mismatched, or misled?: Explaining the gap between expected and realized graduate earnings in Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-47, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Julia Behrman & Pilar Gonalons-Pons, 2020. "Women's employment and fertility in a global perspective (1960–2015)," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(25), pages 707-744.
    14. Julia A. Behrman, 2020. "Mother’s Relative Educational Status and Early Childhood Height-for-Age z Scores: A Decomposition of Change Over Time," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(1), pages 147-173, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; labour markets; further education and training; tracer surveys;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

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