IMF Working Papers

Sub-Saharan Employment Developments: The Important Role of Household Enterprises with an Application to Rwanda

By Alun H. Thomas

August 3, 2015

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Alun H. Thomas Sub-Saharan Employment Developments: The Important Role of Household Enterprises with an Application to Rwanda, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2015) accessed November 2, 2024
Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper documents the structural transformation in employment that has taken place in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the past 15 years. In contrast to Asian economies, where at least half of the labor flows out of agriculture have gone into industry, in SSA, most of the workers have ended up in the service sector, especially household enterprises. Rwanda has been one of the stellar performers in SSA in terms of structural transformation with the strongest movement of workers out of agriculture. Contrary to conventional wisdom, except for the very top of the distribution of consumption in Rwanda, families in household enterprises now consume as much as non-agricultural wage earners.

Subject: Agricultural sector, Consumption distribution, Economic sectors, Employment, Labor, Labor force, National accounts, Wages

Keywords: Agricultural sector, Agriculture employment share, Consumption distribution, Employment, Employment opportunity, FT employment datum, Household enterprises, Labor force, Premium, Rwanda, Salaried employment, Structural transformation, Sub-Saharan Africa, Wage, Wage employment, Wage worker, Wages, Worker, WP

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    18

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 2015/185

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA2015185

  • ISBN:

    9781513513034

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941