Wage Dynamics in Africa

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.

The book 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.

Chapter 1. Introduction: A Journey into Theories and Stylised Facts about Wages in Africa (Philippe Adair). - Part 1: An Overview on Wage Issues in Africa: Facts, Theories and Dynamics. - Chapter 2. Long Term Wage Issues in Africa (Michel-Pierre Chélini). - Chapter 3. Wages and Economic Development, Theories and Models (Stéphane Callens). - Chapter 4. Labourers, Salaried Workers and Salary: Making and Un-making of the African Working Class (Jean Copans). - Chapter 5. Emerging Countries of Africa and Wage Dynamics (Gwenaëlle Otando). - Part 2: Income Inequalities, Wages and Causality. - Chapter 6. Top Expenditure Distribution in North Africa and Middle East Countries and the Inequality Puzzle (Vladimir Hlasny). - Chapter 7. Labour Market and Wages in Cameroon since Independence (1960-2022) (Ghislaine Bamseck). - Chapter 8. Income Inequalities and the Informal Economy in Morocco (Othmane Bourhaba). - Part 3: Wage Determinants: Shocks, Representations and Earning Strategies. - Chapter 9. Labour in Senegal under Structural Adjustment (1980s and 1990s): A Fictitious Market (Eveline Baumann). - Chapter 10. The Effect of Higher Learning on Graduates Salary in Tunisia (Emna Zamel). - Chapter 11. The Perception of Wages in Contemporary Mauritania: Between Craze and Social Positioning (Ousmane Wague). - Chapter 12. Cultivating Youth Economic Resilience: Diverse Income Strategies (Everlyne Ngare). - Part 4. Wage Gaps: Youth, Informality and Gender. - Chapter 13. Rising Labour Market Segmentation in Egypt over 2012-2018: Youth Informal Employment is Prominent (Adrien Frontenaud). - Chapter 14. Dynamics of Wage Disparities in Senegal: Differences in Productive Characteristics or Discrimination? (Mamaye Thiongane). - Chapter 15. The Evolution of the Gender Pay Gap in Cameroon (Sabine Nadine Ekamena). - Chapter 16. Conclusion: Labour, a Highly Political Issue with Manifold Research Challenges (Eveline Baumann).