Growth but no Jobs

In Think Africa amidst all the hoopla around "African growth". James Schneider writing from the recently concluded WEF conference states:

Photo courtesy of Think Africa

Governments across the continent need to do more than formulate policies towards labour absorption. African economies face a much greater difficulty, which from time to time emerged during WEF. As Charles Dan (Africa Director of the International Labour Organisation) stated, “growth is not creating jobs or reducing poverty”. This is because African economies are, in general, too focused on extractive industries. Their prosperity is often tied to demand from China and elsewhere. If these patterns of investment shift, economic growth will slide backwards without much of a firm, endogenous and sustainable footing to support it. Governments will be accused of not fixing the roof when the sun was shinning. Then real instability will reign.

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