Thomas Farole

Tove Sahr

Jan von der Goltz

Mariana Viollaz

This note provides an overview of labor markets and job outcomes in the Horn of Africa. This background note was prepared for the Horn of Africa Regional Economic Memorandum. It provides an overview of issues related to jobs in the five countries of the region, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. It first discusses labor market characteristics, notably labor force participation, unemployment and underemployment,as well as demographics of the labor force. Secondly, it compares employment patterns, focusing on the type and sector of employment. Finally, it looks at the limited information available on jobs outcomes - notably, wage levels. It seeks to provides a relatively succinct synoptic summary of the common trends among the five countries as well as some distinct features. With the exception of Eritrea, the World Bank has recently analyzed jobs outcomes in all countries of the region.

Synoptic Brief

Jobs in the Horn of Africa

Jose Guilherme Reis

In recent years, the agenda to support trade growth has moved beyond trade policy to embrace a wider set of 'behind the border' issues, focused on establishing an environment conducive to the emergence of firms that are competitive in both export and domestic markets. At the operational level, policymakers are increasingly requesting analytical support to understand the factors impacting competitiveness in current traded sectors, along with the prospects for diversification. In this context, the International Trade Department (PRMTR) has developed a Trade Competitiveness Diagnostic Toolkit (TCD). The TCD is a simple guide that facilitates a systematic assessment of a country's position, performance, and capabilities in export markets. The TCD combines quantitative analysis - including comparison of the country against global averages, regional and income-level peers - with an emphasis on in-depth, qualitative analysis, focusing on in-country interviews with key stakeholders across trade value chains. The TCD includes two components: 1.Trade Outcomes Analysis: a quantitative and qualitative analysis of historical trade organised around four components: 1.) the intensive margin, with a focus on the level and growth of exports as well as market share performance; 2.) the extensive margin, including diversification of both products and markets; 3.) the quality margin, focusing on the quality or sophistication of exports; and 4.) the sustainability margin, including the participation and survival of firms in export markets. 2. Competitiveness Diagnostics: cover a broad set of factors that impact trade performance, organized around three themes: 1.) The incentive framework for trade, including an analysis of trade and investment policy, and the business regulatory environment; 2.) Factor inputs, productivity, and trade costs, including issues of labor, technical efficiency, access to inputs and backbone services, and trade and logistics; and 3.) Proactive policies to support trade, including standards, export promotion, and spatial industrial policies like clusters and economic zones. The toolkit will be of particular interest to economists at development banks and donor agencies, government practitioners involved in analyzing trade performance, and academics and researchers in the area of trade and development economics

Trade Competitiveness Diagnostic Toolkit

Deborah Winkler

This book presents the results of a groundbreaking study on spillovers of knowledge and technology from global value-chain oriented foreign direct investment (FDI) in Sub-Saharan Africa, and discusses implications for policymakers hoping to harness the power of FDI for economic development.

Local Spillovers and Competitiveness in Global Value Chains

Making Foreign Direct Investment Work for Sub-Saharan Africa

Gokhan Akinci

For countries as diverse as China and Mauritius, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have been a powerful tool to attract foreign investment, promote export-oriented growth, and generate employment; for many others, the results have been less than encouraging. While the benefits and limitations of zones will no doubt continue to be debated, what is clear is that policymakers are increasingly attracted to them as an instrument of trade, investment, industrial, and spatial policy. Since the mid 1980s, the number of newly-established zones has grown rapidly in almost all regions, with dramatic growth in developing countries. In parallel with this growth and in the evolving context of global trade and investment, zones are also undergoing significant change in both their form and function, with traditional export processing zones (EPZs) increasingly giving way to larger and more flexible SEZ models. This new context will bring significant opportunities for developing countries to take advantage of SEZs, but will also raise new challenges to their successful design and implementation. This volume aims to contribute to a better understanding of the role and practice of SEZs in developing countries, in order to better equip policymakers in making effective decisions in planning and implementing SEZ programs. It covers some of the emerging issues and challenges in SEZs  including upgrading, regional integration, WTO compliance, innovation, the environment, and gender issues  with practical case examples from SEZ programs in developing countries.

Progress, Emerging Challenges, and Future Directions

Special Economic Zones

"This book, designed for policymakers, academics and researchers, and SEZ program practitioners, provides the first systematic and comprehensive analysis of SEZ programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the result of detailed surveys and case studies conducted during 2009 in ten developing countries, including six in Sub-Saharan Africa. The book provides quantitative evidence of the performance of SEZs, and of the factors which contribute to that performance, highlighting the critical importance not just of the SEZ itself but of the wider national investment climate in which it functions. It also provides a comprehensive guide to the key policy questions that confront governments establishing SEZ programs, including: if and when to launch an SEZ program, what form of SEZ is most appropriate, and how to go about implementing it. Among the most important findings from the study that is stressed in the book is the shift from traditional enclave models of zones to SEZs that are integrated ? with national trade and industrial strategies, with core trade and social infrastructure, with domestic suppliers, and with local labor markets.Although the book focuses primarily on the experience of Sub-Saharan Africa, its lessons will be applicable to developing countries around the world."

Thomas Farole

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