William Baah-Boateng - Unemployment in Africa: How appropriate is the current definition for policy purposes?

Datum	donderdag 26 september 2013
Tijd	15:30 – 17:00 uur
Faculteit	Sociale Wetenschappen
Locatie	Room 1A01 (1st floor), Pieter de la Court building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Wassenaarseweg 52, Leiden

By William Baah-Boateng, PhD, Department of Economics, University of Ghana

In this seminar the speaker seeks to establish that the concept of unemployment defined by the ILO appears to be too narrow within the context of many developing countries including Ghana. This definition tends to put many jobless adults into the discouraged worker category thereby giving a misleading picture about the unemployment situation in these countries. In addition, 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.

For more details and registration, see our website.

Location: Room 1A01 (1st floor), Pieter de la Court building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Wassenaarseweg 52, Leiden, a 10-minute walk from Leiden CS

You are all very welcome!