Improving Skills Development in the Informal Sector

Sara Johansson de Silva, Setareh Razmara, Arvil V. Adams

ISBN 10: 0821399683 / ISBN 13: 9780821399682

Published by World Bank Publications, US, 2013

About this Item

The informal sector of Sub-Saharan Africa is comprised of small and household enterprises that operate in the non-farm sector outside the protected employment of the formal wage sector. The sector was identified 40 years ago by the ILO representing a pool of surplus labour that was expected to be absorbed by future industrialisation, but rather than gradually disappearing, it has become a persistent feature of the region's economic landscape accounting for a majority of jobs created off the farm. Acknowledging its potential as a source of employment for the region's expanding workforce and improving its productivity and earnings is recognised as a priority for poverty reduction. This study examines the role played by education and skills development in achieving this objective. Until now, few studies have used household labour force surveys to capture the skills profile of the informal sector and study how different means of skills development - formal education, technical and vocational education and training, apprenticeships, and learning on the job -- shape productivity and earnings in the informal sector as compared with the formal wage sector. This study uses household labour force surveys to look at the experience of skills development in five African countries - Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania - that together account for one-third of the nearly 900 million persons living in SSA. The study defines the non-farm informal sector as the self-employed (own account and with workers), contributing family members, and wage workers in small and household enterprises. Of the nearly 36 million working off the farm in the five countries, 7 out of 10 are working in the informal sector. The importance of this study is its quantitative assessment of how different sources of skills development are related to the sector in which one works and the earnings received in that sector. It further highlights a set of economic constraints to acquiring skills in the small and household enterprises of the informal sector that will have to be overcome if skills are to become a means for improving productivity and earnings in this sector. The study offers a comprehensive strategy for improving employment outcomes in the informal sector through skills development with examples of successful interventions taken from international experience and the five countries.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780821399682

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Improving Skills Development in the Informal Sector
• Publisher: World Bank Publications, US
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0821399683
• ISBN 13: 9780821399682
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 456 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Sub-Saharan Africa has millions of nonfarm workers engaged in small and household enterprises outside formal wage employment, constituting the informal sector. Previously seen as a pool of surplus labor expected to be absorbed by future industrialization, this sector has instead become a persistent feature of the region’s economic landscape, and accounts for a majority of new jobs created off the farm. Expanding the sector's potential as a source of employment for the region's growing workforce and improving its productivity and earnings are priorities for poverty reduction. This book examines the role played by education and skills development in serving these priorities. Improving Skills Development in the Informal Sector: Strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa looks at how formal education, technical and vocational education and training, apprenticeships, and on-the-job learning shape employment and earnings in the informal sector in five African countries. These countries-Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania-together account for one-third of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population of nearly 900 million, and of the nearly 36 million nonfarm workers in those five countries, 7 out of 10 work in the informal sector. The importance of this book is its quantitative assessment, using household surveys, of the relationship of different sources of skills development to the sector in which one works and to one’s earnings. The book also examines a set of economic constraints to skills development and offers an insightful approach to improving employment outcomes, including examples of successful interventions taken from the five countries and elsewhere.