Applied Econometrics and International Development Vol- 9-2 (2009) GROWTH INTENSITY OF EMPLOYMENT IN AFRICA: A PANEL DATA APPROACH

The incidence of poverty has increased in the majority of African countries over the 1990, while a pro-employment growth is strongly believed to be an efficient means for fighting against poverty. Thus a quantitative analysis of the growth-employment nexus in Africa appeared necessary. More specifically, the growth intensity of employment is assessed based on some panel data models of employment, using annual data of 39 African countries, over the period 1995-2000. In the specific case of the dynamic panel model, a Fixed Effects estimation suggests that economic growth affects employment but with lags (up to 2 years). However GMM estimations indicate that the short run effects of GDP remain weak while credit to the private sector and FDI bear some substitution relationship with each other