Across the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), young people face persistent challenges in accessing productive and sustainable employment opportunities. Rapid demographic growth further intensifies pressure on labour markets, making youth employment a central development priority for the region. Drawing on harmonized household survey data, this analysis highlights unequal labour market outcomes among young people across the region and the factors shaping them.
Varying rates of employment, but the same story amongst the employed
In 2022, the employment-to-population ratios of young people aged 15 to 29 in WAEMU varied widely across countries. Among young men, it ranged from 44.5 per cent in Togo to 79.7 per cent in Niger. Differences in the employment-to-population ratios of young women were even more pronounced, varying from as low as 22.5 per cent in Senegal up to 67.5 per cent in Niger. Employment-to-population ratios display significant gender disparities, albeit less pronounced than in NEET rates (share of young people not in employment, education or training).
Agriculture dominates youth employment in the region and youth employment is primarily self-employment, although some countries have seen growth in waged jobs in recent years. Overall, self-employment accounts for 70.1 per cent of youth jobs in the region; ranging from one-half (49.9 per cent in Senegal) to over four-fifths (82.1 per cent in Niger) of all youth employment in WAEMU countries.
Almost all youth are informally employed. In general, informal employment is more prevalent amongst young women than young men. Thus, the quality of youth jobs is clearly also an important issue for the region.
Domestic responsibilities and gender norms keep young women out of the labour market and education or training
Across the region, young women clearly do face greater challenges than young men in gaining entry to the labour market. This is reflected in female NEET rates which are invariably higher – often much higher – than the NEET rates of young men. Female NEET rates are 50 than male NEET rates in Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Togo; they are over twice as high in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger and Senegal, and over three times as high in Mali.
An important source of the gender disparities in NEET rates was due to a disproportionate engagement of young women in family care responsibilities including childcare, household work, and caring for sick family members. For the most part, shares of all other reasons for being NEET are similar for young women and men. The differences in family care responsibilities also underlie much of the cross-country differences in NEET rates themselves.
The unemployed – that is, young people who are not working but are available and actively seeking work – are a relatively small component of NEET young people as a whole, and comprise a similar proportion of the population across countries with relatively small gender disparities.
NEET by educational attainment, disability and geographic locations in WAEMU are generally inconsistent with global patterns
Globally, young people with disabilities face NEET rates that are twice those of their non-disabled peers – young people with disabilities in WAEMU countries are no exception. On average, young people with disabilities in WAEMU have NEET rates which are roughly double the NEET rates of young people without disability. In Benin and Niger, they are three times as high.
Although NEET rates worldwide are generally significantly higher among young people with lower levels of educational attainment, this relationship tends to be less pronounced in low- and lower-middle-income countries. In WAEMU, only Senegal stands out as conforming closely to the typical global pattern. On average NEET rates in WAEMU are broadly similar across young people attaining different levels of education. Frequently, however, young people with tertiary educational qualifications are those with the highest NEET rates. This is of concern since it tends to suggest the existence of educational mismatch.
In contrast to the global patterns, NEET rates are not higher in rural areas than urban ones in WAEMU overall. Again, only Senegal conforms to the global trend, while urban and rural NEET rates are similar in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Togo.
In some of the lower-income countries in the region – Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau and Niger – NEET shares are higher in urban areas. This reflects the greater necessity for young people in rural areas in these countries to engage in or income-generating activities, rather than remaining NEET.
Conclusion
Despite periods of relatively strong economic growth, labour markets in WAEMU remain characterised by high levels of informality, a strong concentration of employment in low-productivity agriculture, and significant disparities across gender, disability status and location. Strengthening the evidence base on these dynamics is essential to better understand the constraints faced by young people and to inform effective policy responses.
Background
The ILO in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation has undertaken a new phase of analytical work covering the youth labour market of the eight WAEMU countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. Building on a long-standing collaboration, this work includes the production of comparable country briefs drawing on newly available harmonized household survey data. The resulting analysis provides updated and comparable insights into youth labour market trends and serves as a basis for dialogue on policy and programme responses. Click here to learn more.
Concepts and definitions
The definition of youth
For statistical purposes, the United Nations defines youth as persons aged between 15 and 24 years old. This is the definition used for most indicators in ILOSTAT including for ILO modelled estimates which are presented here. For country-level data in this blog and the series of country briefs on which this blog is based, and which includes the school-to-work framework, youth refer to persons aged between 15 and 29 years old. This recognizes the fact that some young people remain in education for longer and captures more information on the post-graduation employment experiences of young people.
To compare NEET rates at different levels of educational attainment, the focus is on the slightly older 25- to 29-year-old age group. This avoids the misleading picture that emerges from examining NEET (or unemployment) rates by educational attainment for 15- to 24-year-olds, as these are subject to systematic differences not due to educational attainment per se. For example, 15- to 24-year-olds with tertiary educational attainment will systematically be older, on average, than those with basic or secondary education.
The definition of employment based on the latest statistical standards
According to the latest statistical standards, as described in the Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization, which was adopted by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in 2013, work comprises any activity performed by persons of any sex and age to produce goods or to provide services for use by others or for own use.
The surveys used to study labour market trends of these eight WAEMU countries follow the previous standards (adopted by the 13th ICLS in 1982), which use a broader definition of employment.
To learn more, refer to the Quick guide to understanding the impact of the new statistical standards on ILOSTAT databases. It explains the differences between the two sets of standards, the impact of the revisions on headline indicators, and how this is handled on ILOSTAT to ensure data users can continue making meaningful time series analyses and international comparisons.
