School to Work Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Overview

While youth issues are subject of growing attention in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region, data for indicators relating specifically to youth employment remain scarce in most SSA countries. There is therefore limited empirical basis for formulating policies and programs promoting youth employment and successful school to work transitions. The study is aimed at beginning to fill this gap by generating and analyzing a set of youth education and employment indicators based on World Bank survey data for a subset of 13 countries in the Sub Saharan Africa region. Study findings highlight the disadvantaged position of young people in the labor force in the region. They face much higher levels of unemployment than their adult counterparts or young people in developed economies, and are much more concentrated in low skill and unstable informal sector work. Youth never attending school emerge as a particular policy concern. Uneducated youth appear to be stuck not only in low income jobs but also face a high risk of unemployment. The study places particular emphasis on measuring the initial transition from school to work for different groups of young people, and on identifying the factors affecting this transition. Results indicate that the average duration of the transition is very long in many SSA countries, suggesting young people in these countries are faced with substantial labor market entry problems upon leaving the school system.