Despite substantial improvements inaccess to basic education and steady economic growth, TheGambia still faces considerable challenges in respect toreducing poverty. As the result of its narrow economic baseand its reduced internal market, the country will continueto rely heavily on the productivity of its citizens toreverse the cycle that keeps families in poverty generationafter generation. Poverty reduction is a complex equationthat involves improvements in job creation, especially forhigh-skilled and productive employment, as well asimprovements in human capital levels to ensure that citizensare able to take advantage of employment opportunities.Currently, however, low human capital levels greatly limitthe productivity and employment outcomes of the population,as evidenced by the fact that a majority continues to workin subsistence agriculture, especially in rural areas.Nearly 60 percent of the poor in The Gambia are under theage of 20 years. Youth face significant challenges withrespect to employment outcomes, such as a very difficulttransition from school to work and very low levels ofeducation and training. In terms of education levels, asignificant proportion of young people (especially in ruralareas) leave school early, in part due to what are perceivedto be low returns on education. Many of those who do receivehigh quality education and training choose to emigrate. In acountry where more than half the population is under the ageof 20 years, these trends are worrisome. Overall, youngworkers are employed in jobs of low quality and high levelsof informality. Female youth are also much more likely to beself-employed (46 percent, versus 32 percent for maleyouth). More than half of young workers are engaged inagriculture, which predominates in rural areas (82 percent,versus 16 percent in urban areas), and the services sectoris the most important source of youth employment in citiesand towns, accounting for almost 65 percent of employedyouth. Female youth are less likely to be employed or ineducation, and more likely to be inactive (31 percent,against 27 percent for male youth); possibly reflecting theperiod when child-rearing and domestic responsibilitiesbegin for female youth. The study assessed the impact of thefollowing factors on youth's time use: education level,gender, local labor supply and demand, and place ofresidence. From the analysis, it was noted that theprobability of being employed decreases as the level ofhuman capital increases. In fact, uneducated youth displaythe highest probability of being employed.
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