Improving Skills Development in the Informal Sector : Strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Title:
Improving Skills Development in the Informal Sector : Strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Author:
Adams, Arvil V.
ISBN:
9780821399699
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (287 pages)
Series:
Directions in Development
Contents:
Front Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- About the Authors -- Abbreviations -- Overview -- Background -- Main Findings -- Main Policy Recommendations -- References -- Chapter 1 Introduction -- In This Chapter -- Background -- Public Interest in the Nonfarm Informal Sector -- Skills Play Different Roles in the Formal and Informal Sectors -- What We Know about Skills and the Informal Sector -- Objectives and Structure of This Book -- Notes -- References -- PART 1 Findings and Actions -- Chapter 2 Employment in the Informal Sector -- In This Chapter -- Introduction -- A Profile of Those Employed -- Main Conclusions -- Annex 2A: Employment in the Informal Sector: The Building Blocks -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 3 The Role of Skills in the Informal Sector -- In This Chapter -- Introduction -- What Is Meant by Skills? -- Looking at the Effects of Skills -- The Profile of Skills in the Informal Sector -- Sector of Employment -- Earnings -- Main Conclusions -- Annex 3A: Summary of Education and Training Impact on Sector of Employment and Individual Earnings by Country -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 4 Strategies for Improving Skills in the Informal Sector -- In This Chapter -- Introduction -- Factors behind the Shortfall in Skills for the Informal Sector -- Strategies for Skills Development in the Informal Sector -- Defining Roles and Responsibilities for Reforms -- Annex 4A: Programs That Address Some of the Informal Sector Training Constraints -- Note -- References -- PART 2 Country Case Studies -- Chapter 5 Skills Development in the Informal Sector: Ghana -- In This Chapter -- Introduction -- Skills, Employment, and Earnings -- Acquiring Skills for the Job Market in Ghana -- Conclusions -- Annex 5A: Tables -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 6 Skills Development in the Informal Sector: Kenya.
In This Chapter -- Introduction -- Skills, Employment, and Earnings -- Acquiring Skills for the Job Market in Kenya -- Conclusions -- Annex 6A: Tables -- Annex 6B: Training Scheme Descriptions -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 7 Skills Development in the Informal Sector: Nigeria -- In This Chapter -- Introduction -- Skills, Employment, and Earnings -- Acquiring Skills for the Job Market in Nigeria -- Conclusions -- Annex 7A: Tables -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 8 Skills Development in the Informal Sector: Rwanda -- In This Chapter -- Introduction -- Skills, Employment, and Earnings -- Acquiring Skills for the Job Market in Rwanda -- Conclusions -- Annex 8A: Tables -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 9 Skills Development in the Informal Sector: Tanzania -- In This Chapter -- Introduction -- Skills, Employment, and Earnings -- Acquiring Skills for the Job Market in Tanzania -- Conclusions -- Annex 9A: Tables -- Notes -- References -- Boxes -- Figures -- Tables -- Back Cover.
Abstract:
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 labor that was expected to be absorbed by future industrialization, 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 recognized 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 labor 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 labor 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.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
Genre:
Electronic Access:
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