The INCLUDE team’s reading list: March 2022

Every month we share with our readers a curated reading list on inclusive development. This month we are zooming in on inclusive employment.
The global labour market is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic performance for much of the world over the coming years, according to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) flagship report World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2022. With an estimated working-hour deficit equivalent to 52 million full-time jobs, this report clearly sets out to what extent COVID-19 has negatively impacted the road to decent employment for all.
Short term efforts to reduce the immediate effect of the crisis in Africa have varying success rates. The Center for Global Development’s policy paper Social Protection in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons from South Africa found South Africa’s social protection response to COVID-19 largely successful and more extensive and durable than in the rest of Africa. However, the ILO report emphasises the need for longer term solutions.
The African Center for Economic Transformation in its  multi-country study addresses opportunities to strengthen education and learning systems to deliver the workforce required in the years to come, while the Partnership for Economic Policy conducted a cross-country analysis of productive employment in rural farm and non-farm sectors in sub-Saharan Africa. While both reports give promising policy recommendations, they also reiterate that youth, particularly young women, face the biggest obstacles to achieving decent employment. This confirms that our research into inclusive development is highly relevant and sorely needed.

If you’d like to know more about our work, take a look at our multi-donor research initiative on Boosting Decent Employment for Africa’s Youth. You can also read more on the subject on our Growth Sectors for Youth Employment Programme webpage.