Who Is Employed? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa on Redefining Employment
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World Bank, Washington, DC
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The 19th International Conference of
Labour Statisticians (in 2013) redefined labor statistics
standards. A major change was to narrow the definition of
employment to work for pay or profit. By the revised
standards, farming that is only or mainly intended for own
use is no longer considered employment, and such a farmer is
no longer considered to be employed or in the labor force.
This paper analyzes the implications of the revised
standards on measures of employment in Sub-Saharan Africa
obtained from multi-topic household surveys. It shows that,
in some contexts, 70 to 80 percent of farmers produce only
or mainly for family consumption and are therefore, based on
this activity, not considered employed by the revised
standards. However, there is wide variation across countries
and regions. Moreover, farmers are more likely to report
intending to produce for sale at the end of the growing
season of the main local crop than earlier in the season.
Men are more likely than women to produce for sale. The
revised standards lead to significantly lower
employment-to-population ratios in rural Africa and change
the sectoral composition of the employed population toward
non-agricultural sectors. The paper concludes with
recommendations for data producers and users.
Palabras clave
LABOR STATISTICS, LABOR MARKET, INFORMALITY, LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION, FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION, GENDER, OWN-USE PRODUCTION, HOUSEHOLD SURVEY, EMPLOYMENT, FARM PRODUCTION