Policy highlights:
- This report points to some inequalities that are particularly harmful for economic growth in Africa: 1) all inequalities in terms of income distribution between the middle and the bottom and between the bottom and top income-segments; 2) the advantages that males have over females in labour market participation; 3) inequality in human capital distribution – or the proportion of people with primary education and less, to those with secondary education and above.
- Based on these findings recommendations can be made for immediate as well as long-term policy action: 1) reduce man-made barriers to trade, followed by creating cross-border and inter-regional infrastructure linkages to reduce spatial inequality; 2) reduce skills imbalance by well-targeted educational spending beyond primary education; 3) address root causes of gender inequality by fast-tracking laws on equal opportunity in the labour market – without such action other efforts will not be sustainable; 4) Encourage policies for attracting investment in industries that complement rather than compete with small businesses; and 5) Develop policy to attract FDI into more low-skill labour-absorbing sectors to address the problem of human capital distribution.
