Vocational Education, On-the-Job Training and Labour Market Integration of Young Workers in Urban West Africa

Abstract

Young people in Africa are confronted with many difficulties when it comes to their integration in thelabour markets and their research for decent and productive jobs. Research on the links betweenformal education and vocational training and their economic returns are especially crucial inunderstanding inadequacy between labour supply and demand for young people. This paper aims tocontribute to this needed diagnosis by presenting some evidence based on the 1-2-3 Surveys conductedin seven African countries, which provides a consistent and comparable picture of the situation ofyouth employment in urban labour markets in these countries. We provide some evidence thatvocational education might be a good instrument for integrating the formal sector and that it is oftenmore profitable than general education in terms of earnings and firm performance, especially at higherlevels of schooling. Overall, young workers without any formal vocational education and training arethe more disadvantaged in terms of working conditions, while workers who benefited from atraditional apprenticeship in a small firm occupy an intermediate position.