{"id":6449,"date":"2020-02-20T11:25:41","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T11:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/?p=6449"},"modified":"2020-02-20T11:25:41","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T11:25:41","slug":"does-rural-africa-have-a-youth-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/2020\/02\/20\/does-rural-africa-have-a-youth-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Does rural Africa have a ‘youth problem’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blog post by James Thurlow, <\/span> Valerie Mueller and <\/span> Julia Wilson. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

More than 20 million young people aged 15-24 join the workforce in Africa south of the Sahara every year. These young job seekers will need to find work in today\u2019s more competitive global economy, and not everyone thinks they will be successful.<\/p>\n

Many governments are concerned about the prospect of widespread youth unemployment and the political unrest that this \u201cyouth bulge\u201d could bring. Concerns are perhaps greatest for\u00a0rural\u00a0Africa, where global poverty is concentrating and job opportunities beyond smallholder farming are few and far between.<\/p>\n

Although creating enough jobs in Africa is a daunting challenge, there are reasons for optimism.\u00a0Many people highlight the fact that younger Africans are generally better educated than older generations and are often more comfortable with new technologies.<\/p>\n

Young people may be better equipped to use modern farming practices, start new businesses in rural areas, or take advantage of opportunities in Africa\u2019s growing cities.<\/p>\n

In short, many people think young job seekers could be the \u201cagents of change\u201d that rural Africa sorely needs.<\/p>\n

It turns out, though, that the concerns and optimism about African youth\u00a0is not well grounded in evidence. In our new book, Youth and Jobs in Rural Africa<\/a><\/em>, we revisit the so-called facts that underpin much of our understanding about the prospects of African youth.<\/p>\n

A more careful look at the data reveals that Africa does not have a \u201cyouth problem,\u201d but rather faces the broader challenge of promoting inclusive economic development. Moreover, while young people are better educated, this is no guarantee that they will be in the vanguard of rural development.<\/p>\n

We compare Africa\u2019s youth bulge to those of other developing regions and find that, while Africa\u2019s youth bulge is late, its scale is not unprecedented. The share of youth in Africa\u2019s workforce today is similar to what it was in other regions back in the 1970s and 1980s.<\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s economic performance today is also, by some measures, better than it was in other regions back when their youth populations peaked. This should make us more hopeful about Africa\u2019s ability to address its own demographic transition. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mitchell Maher\/IFPRI<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blog post by James Thurlow, Valerie Mueller and Julia Wilson. More than 20 million young people aged 15-24 join the workforce in Africa south of the Sahara every year. These young job seekers will need to find work in today\u2019s more competitive global economy, and not everyone thinks they will be successful. Many governments are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[376],"tags":[388,279],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6451,"href":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6449\/revisions\/6451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essp.ifpri.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}