Africa at Work: Job Creation and Inclusive Growth

Africa at Work: Job Creation and Inclusive Growth

The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) recently produced a new report into the employment landscape in Africa entitled: Africa at Work: Job creation and inclusive growth.

The report is focused on several key areas:

  • Africa’s employment challenge
  • Africa’s 72 million job opportunity
  • Barriers to stable job creation in Africa
  • Developing a job creation strategy for African countries

Key Findings

The key findings of the report are stated to be as follows:

  • Africa is poised to reap a demographic dividend, courtesy of its young and rapidly growing workforce and declining dependency ratio. By 2035, the continents workforce will be larger than that of any other nation, including China or India.
  • Just 28% of Africa’s labour force have stable wage-paying jobs.
  • Africa has the potential to create between 54 million and 72 million more stable wage-paying jobs by 2020, with much of the growth coming from manufacturing, agriculture and retail and hospitality.
  • The continents workforce is more educated and is employed in a more diverse array of sectors than is commonly perceived. The challenge for stakeholders is to create opportunities for individuals to gain work experience and to build more practical vocational and tertiary programmes that develop the skills needed by business.
  • Economic growth is a pre-requisite for job creation. Boosting employment requires targeted strategies implemented by government and business leaders to spur growth in sectors with the greatest job creation potential.

Full Report

To view the full report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) please visit: Africa at Work: Job creation and inclusive growth