The Changing Structure of Africa's Economies

Diao, Xinshen ; Harttgen, Kenneth ; McMillan, Margaret

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: structural change;    labor productivity;    structural transformation;    economic growth;    poverty reduction;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7958
RP-ID  :  WPS7958

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Data from the Groningen Growth andDevelopment Center's Africa Sector Database and theDemographic and Health Surveys reveals that much ofAfrica's recent growth and poverty reduction has beenassociated with a substantive decline in the share of thelabor force engaged in agriculture. This decline is mostpronounced for rural females over the age of 25 who have aprimary education; it has been accompanied by a systematicincrease in the productivity of the labor force, as it hasmoved from low productivity agriculture to higherproductivity services and manufacturing. Although theemployment share in manufacturing is not expanding rapidly,in most of the low-income African countries the employmentshare in manufacturing has not peaked and is stillexpanding, albeit from very low levels. More work is neededto understand the implications of these shifts in employmentshares for future growth and development in Africa south ofthe Sahara.