Why the IMF doubts the informal sector
Fund points to positive correlation between formal work and growth
London — Unemployment in Nigeria, the largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, is running at more than 14% and climbing; in SA, the second-largest economy, it is more than 27%. For youth in both countries, it is far more. This may seem bad enough, but according to IMF calculations, sub-Saharan Africa’s travails are in danger of reaching uncharted territory in less than two decades unless economies can create jobs for their burgeoning young populations. "By 2035, sub-Saharan Africa will have more working-age people than the rest of the world’s regions combined," the IMF said in a blog post this week. "This growing workforce will have to be met with jobs." This had major implications for the region’s economy, its security and wider immigration patterns. In the past, some of the strain had been taken up by the so-called informal economy, dominated by street vendors, household workers and off-the-radar cash jobbers. The informal sector in sub-Saharan Africa contributed about 38% of GDP in...
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