How Youth-Specific is Africa’s Youth Employment Challenge?

Abstract

As policy-makers turn their attention to Africa’s youth employment challenge and respond with programmes targeting young people, it is paramount to assess the extent to which this challenge is about broader contextual factors that affect everyone, versus factors that affect young people only or primarily. Despite two decades of relative stability and economic prosperity, unemployment, underemployment, informality, and low-quality work remain the norm in much of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The report focuses on this region, where many countries have been experiencing jobless growth. Africa is also the youngest continent, and young people here face an extremely challenging job situation. This raises two questions: how youth-specific is Africa’s youth employment challenge? And how youth-specific are its causes? K4D helpdesk reports provide summaries of current research, evidence and lessons learned. This report was commissioned by the UK Department for International Development and Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade