Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies

Taruna Shalini Ramessur

doi:doi:10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14

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Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies

Taruna Shalini Ramessur

Published in Economics (Volume 10, Issue 4)

Received: 6 September 2021 Accepted: 19 October 2021 Published: 27 November 2021

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Abstract

Structural transformation is hypothesized by growth accounting to be at the core of the process of economic development and a crucial source of labour productivity growth. Despite the key importance of structural transformation in driving economic performance, investigations on the impacts of structural change on labour productivity growth in Sub-Saharan Africa region has been minimal if not absent from the literature. This paper caters for this literature gap by examining the extent to which structural change explain the dynamics of labor productivity growth in three African countries. Using data from Benin, Mauritius and Tanzania the study adopts a mixture of approaches: trend analysis, regression analysis and the shift-share analysis to achieve its objective. The main findings indicate that first in both Benin and Tanzania workers’ productivity are far higher in non-agricultural sectors and hence a reallocation of labour from the agriculture sector would boost overall productivity in these two economies. Second, countries which ‘leap frog’ from the agriculture to the services sector, bypassing the industry sector, tend to experience weak if not negative dynamic effects of a reallocation of workers from agriculture to services. Third, countries which have undergone advanced structural transformation, like Mauritius need to revamp their sectors or look for new emerging sectors if they are to further exploit the contribution of structural change to labour productivity growth.

Published in	Economics (Volume 10, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14
Page(s)	139-151
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Labour Productivity Growth, Structural Transformation, Mauritius, Benin, Tanzania

References

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Taruna Shalini Ramessur. (2021). Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies. Economics, 10(4), 139-151. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14

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Taruna Shalini Ramessur. Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies. Economics. 2021, 10(4), 139-151. doi: 10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14

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Taruna Shalini Ramessur. Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies. Economics. 2021;10(4):139-151. doi: 10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14

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@article{10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14,
  author = {Taruna Shalini Ramessur},
  title = {Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies},
  journal = {Economics},
  volume = {10},
  number = {4},
  pages = {139-151},
  doi = {10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.eco.20211004.14},
  abstract = {Structural transformation is hypothesized by growth accounting to be at the core of the process of economic development and a crucial source of labour productivity growth. Despite the key importance of structural transformation in driving economic performance, investigations on the impacts of structural change on labour productivity growth in Sub-Saharan Africa region has been minimal if not absent from the literature. This paper caters for this literature gap by examining the extent to which structural change explain the dynamics of labor productivity growth in three African countries. Using data from Benin, Mauritius and Tanzania the study adopts a mixture of approaches: trend analysis, regression analysis and the shift-share analysis to achieve its objective. The main findings indicate that first in both Benin and Tanzania workers’ productivity are far higher in non-agricultural sectors and hence a reallocation of labour from the agriculture sector would boost overall productivity in these two economies. Second, countries which ‘leap frog’ from the agriculture to the services sector, bypassing the industry sector, tend to experience weak if not negative dynamic effects of a reallocation of workers from agriculture to services. Third, countries which have undergone advanced structural transformation, like Mauritius need to revamp their sectors or look for new emerging sectors if they are to further exploit the contribution of structural change to labour productivity growth.},
 year = {2021}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies
AU  - Taruna Shalini Ramessur
Y1  - 2021/11/27
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14
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JF  - Economics
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PB  - Science Publishing Group
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UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14
AB  - Structural transformation is hypothesized by growth accounting to be at the core of the process of economic development and a crucial source of labour productivity growth. Despite the key importance of structural transformation in driving economic performance, investigations on the impacts of structural change on labour productivity growth in Sub-Saharan Africa region has been minimal if not absent from the literature. This paper caters for this literature gap by examining the extent to which structural change explain the dynamics of labor productivity growth in three African countries. Using data from Benin, Mauritius and Tanzania the study adopts a mixture of approaches: trend analysis, regression analysis and the shift-share analysis to achieve its objective. The main findings indicate that first in both Benin and Tanzania workers’ productivity are far higher in non-agricultural sectors and hence a reallocation of labour from the agriculture sector would boost overall productivity in these two economies. Second, countries which ‘leap frog’ from the agriculture to the services sector, bypassing the industry sector, tend to experience weak if not negative dynamic effects of a reallocation of workers from agriculture to services. Third, countries which have undergone advanced structural transformation, like Mauritius need to revamp their sectors or look for new emerging sectors if they are to further exploit the contribution of structural change to labour productivity growth.
VL  - 10
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Author Information

Taruna Shalini Ramessur

Department of Economics and Statistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius

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Taruna Shalini Ramessur. (2021). Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies. Economics, 10(4), 139-151. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14

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Taruna Shalini Ramessur. Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies. Economics. 2021, 10(4), 139-151. doi: 10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14

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AMA Style

Taruna Shalini Ramessur. Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies. Economics. 2021;10(4):139-151. doi: 10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14,
  author = {Taruna Shalini Ramessur},
  title = {Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies},
  journal = {Economics},
  volume = {10},
  number = {4},
  pages = {139-151},
  doi = {10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.eco.20211004.14},
  abstract = {Structural transformation is hypothesized by growth accounting to be at the core of the process of economic development and a crucial source of labour productivity growth. Despite the key importance of structural transformation in driving economic performance, investigations on the impacts of structural change on labour productivity growth in Sub-Saharan Africa region has been minimal if not absent from the literature. This paper caters for this literature gap by examining the extent to which structural change explain the dynamics of labor productivity growth in three African countries. Using data from Benin, Mauritius and Tanzania the study adopts a mixture of approaches: trend analysis, regression analysis and the shift-share analysis to achieve its objective. The main findings indicate that first in both Benin and Tanzania workers’ productivity are far higher in non-agricultural sectors and hence a reallocation of labour from the agriculture sector would boost overall productivity in these two economies. Second, countries which ‘leap frog’ from the agriculture to the services sector, bypassing the industry sector, tend to experience weak if not negative dynamic effects of a reallocation of workers from agriculture to services. Third, countries which have undergone advanced structural transformation, like Mauritius need to revamp their sectors or look for new emerging sectors if they are to further exploit the contribution of structural change to labour productivity growth.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Labour Productivity and Structural Transformation: A Tale of 3 African Economies
AU  - Taruna Shalini Ramessur
Y1  - 2021/11/27
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14
T2  - Economics
JF  - Economics
JO  - Economics
SP  - 139
EP  - 151
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2376-6603
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.eco.20211004.14
AB  - Structural transformation is hypothesized by growth accounting to be at the core of the process of economic development and a crucial source of labour productivity growth. Despite the key importance of structural transformation in driving economic performance, investigations on the impacts of structural change on labour productivity growth in Sub-Saharan Africa region has been minimal if not absent from the literature. This paper caters for this literature gap by examining the extent to which structural change explain the dynamics of labor productivity growth in three African countries. Using data from Benin, Mauritius and Tanzania the study adopts a mixture of approaches: trend analysis, regression analysis and the shift-share analysis to achieve its objective. The main findings indicate that first in both Benin and Tanzania workers’ productivity are far higher in non-agricultural sectors and hence a reallocation of labour from the agriculture sector would boost overall productivity in these two economies. Second, countries which ‘leap frog’ from the agriculture to the services sector, bypassing the industry sector, tend to experience weak if not negative dynamic effects of a reallocation of workers from agriculture to services. Third, countries which have undergone advanced structural transformation, like Mauritius need to revamp their sectors or look for new emerging sectors if they are to further exploit the contribution of structural change to labour productivity growth.
VL  - 10
IS  - 4
ER  -

Copy | Download