Seminar: The definition of unemployment in Africa

Unemployment in Africa: How appropriate is the current definition for policy purposes? In this seminar William Baah-Boateng from the University of Ghana seeks to establish that the concept of unemployment as defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) appears to be too strict within many developing countries, including Ghana. The ILO definition tends to put adults without an official job yet who are active in the informal sector, into the ‘discouraged worker’ category (people who have become too discouraged to look for a job). This definition thereby gives a misleading picture about the unemployment situation in these countries. The structure of the labour market in many African countries is such that informality takes the face of unemployment. By presenting evidence from Ghana, Dr. Baah-Boateng will further explore this phenomenon and the consequences for analysing unemployment and labour market structures in Africa. The main argument will be that the adoption of a broader definition of unemployment is needed within the Ghanaian context in order to inform policy formulation. Additionally, labour market policies need not be restricted to the phenomenon of unemployment but rather extend to cover the poor quality of employment associated with informality.

Read the seminar paper.