Wage Dynamics in Africa. Achievements and Challenges

Michel-Pierre Chelini • Philippe Adair • Eveline Baumann Editors

This book addresses the long understudied topic of wage issues in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It offers an overview of wage issues in Africa, examines income inequalities, wages and causality, as well as wage determinants such as shocks, representations, and earning strategies. It also examines gender issues in the labour market. It consists of 14 chapters divided into four parts. It covers several countries from North Africa (Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia) and Sub-Saharan Africa (Cameroon, Kenya, Mauritania and Senegal), with Cameroon and Senegal being covered twice. Statistical data before 1990-2000 are incomplete and the literature on the subject remains limited. While the African labour market shares similarities with other labour markets, it also has some unique characteristics. Only 27 per cent of workers are employees, two-thirds of whom work in the informal economy. Wage growth in Africa has been slow since the 1990s, with the exception of countries such as Botswana and Mauritius, where it has been particularly rapid. Looking at labour issues across such a wide range of countries proved to be a valuable asset. It confirmed, firstly, that there is a positive correlation between growth in wage employment and GDP and, secondly, that the boundary between formal and informal enterprises and jobs can shift towards more or less formality.

Topics African History, Economic History, African Business, African Politics Keywords Gender gap, industrial relations, wage increase, wage inequalities, wage policies, collective bargaining, employers unions, employees, unions, long-run economic development, minimum wage, standard of living, fair wage. Table of contents

Front Matter pp i-iv Download chapter PDF 1. Introduction: A Journey into Theories and Stylised Facts About Wages in Africa

pp 1-18 Philippe Adair An Overview on Wage Issues in Africa: Facts, Theories and Dynamics Front Matter pp 19-19 2. Long-Term Wage Issues in Africa pp 21-38 Michel-Pierre Chelini

3. Wages and Economic Development, Theories and Models pp 39-55 Stéphane Callens, Badri Houda

4. Labourers, Salaried Workers, and Salary: Makings and Un-makings of the African Working

Class

pp 57-72 Jean Copans 5. Emerging Countries in Africa and Wage Dynamics

pp 73-93 Gwenaëlle Otando, Mhammed Echkoundi, Hicham Hafid Income Inequalities, Wages and Causality Front Matter Pp 95-95 Download chapter PDF 6. Top Expenditure Distribution in North Africa and Middle East Countries and the Inequality

Puzzle

pp 97-114 Vladimir Hlasny 7. Labour Market and Wages in Cameroon Since Independence (1960/2022)

Ghislaine Bamseck Famo 8. Income Inequalities and Informal Economy in Morocco

pp 115-134

pp 135-147 Othmane Bourhaba, Mama Hamimida Wage Determinants: Shocks, Representations and Earning Strategies Front Matter 149-149 Download chapter PDF 9. Labour in Senegal Under Structural Adjustment (1980s and 1990s): A Fictitious Market pp

151-171 Eveline Baumann 10. The Effect of Higher Learning on Graduates’ Salary in Tunisia

pp 173-192 Emna Zamel, Mahdi Barouni 11. The Perception of Wages in Contemporary Mauritania: Between Craze and Social Positioning

pp 193-207 Ousmane Wague 12. Cultivating Youth Economic Resilience: Diverse Income Strategies

pp 209-226 Everlyne Ngare Wage Gaps: Youth, Informality and Gender Front Matter Pp 227-227 Download chapter PDF 13. Rising Labour Market Segmentation in Egypt over 2012–2018: Youth Informal Employment

Is Prominent

pp 229-251 Adrien Frontenaud, Oksana Nezhyvenko, Philippe Adair 14. Dynamics of Wage Disparities in Senegal: Differences in Productive Characteristics

or Discrimination?

pp 253-273 Mamaye Thiongane, Abou Kane 15. The Evolution of the Gender Pay Gap in Cameroon pp 275-291 Sabine Nadine Ekamena Ntsama Wage Gaps: Youth, Informality and Gender 16. Conclusion: Labour, a Highly Political Issue with Manifold Research Challenges Eveline Baumann