Employment Vulnerability and Earnings in Urban West Africa

Bocquier, Philippe; Nordman, Christophe Jalil; Vescovo, Aude

Bocquier, Philippe; Nordman, Christophe Jalil; Vescovo, Aude (2010), Employment Vulnerability and Earnings in Urban West Africa, World Development, 38, 9, p. 1297-1314. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2010.02.011

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Type

Article accepté pour publication ou publié

Date

2010

Journal name

World Development

Volume

Number

Publisher

Elsevier

Pages

1297-1314

Abstract (EN)

This article develops indicators of vulnerability in employment in seven economic capitals of West Africa and studies their links with individual incomes. Quantitative, distributional and qualitative analyses show that vulnerability compensating mechanism is mainly seen in the informal sector, in the upper tail of the earnings distribution and particularly in the circumstance of visible underemployment. Employment vulnerability is not compensated for the poorest workers in the private sector. Long “job queues” and weak institutional protection of workers may have reduced bargaining power in the formal sector.

Subjects / Keywords

Afrique de l'Ouest; West Africa; secteur informel; revenus; différentiels compensatoires; conditions de travail; vulnérabilité; vulnerability; working conditions; compensating differentials; earnings; informal sector

JEL

O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
J31 - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J24 - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity