The Impact of Trade Reforms on Employment and Welfare in ECOWAS Countries: The Case of Senegal

This study evaluates the impact of the ECOWAS-CET and the EPA on youth employment and on welfare in Senegal. The analysis is performed using the PEP-1-1 model, which is a static computable general equilibrium model. The simulation results indicate that applying the ECOWAS-CET instead of the WAEMU-CET tends, in Senegal, to generate an increase in youth and female employment at all qualification levels, and thereby increases welfare of all household groups. However, implementation of the EPA led to deterioration of this situation, with contrary effects on employment of all workers (especially youth and women) and overall welfare.