G²LM|LIC

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Reminder: Call for Applications for FREE Online Development Economics Course

The IZA/FCDO Programme on Gender, Growth and Labor Markets in Low-Income Countries (G²LM|LIC) is sponsoring the ONLINE EVENT: “Development Economics Course”, January 15 – March 18, 2024. The course is free of charge for the participants.

Application deadline is November 10, 2023.

Watch the trailer for the course here!

Students and researchers from Africa are now also invited to apply!

Course instructors are Oriana Bandiera and Robin Burgess as well as amazing teaching assistants from London School of Economics. The course is designed for undergraduate students, but we can accept applications from grad/post-grad students and employees from the public and private sector as well. It is open to all residents of African and Asian countries on this list.

Please find all details here.

The Structure of the Labor Force and Employment in Sudan

In the midst of a turbulent period in Sudan since 2018, this study meticulously examines Sudan’s labour market dynamics in 2022. With its last household survey conducted in 2011, Sudan has faced a series of significant economic and political shocks. This includes the secession of South Sudan in 2011, leading to declining per capita GDP, prolonged political and economic struggles, and the 2018 protests that ultimately led to the removal of President Al-Bashir and the establishment of a civilian government in 2019.

In 2020, Sudan confronted the global COVID-19 pandemic, adding to its economic challenges. Political instability continued, culminating in a military coup in October 2021. Despite these adversities, data from the Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey (SLMPS) for 2022 offers a unique window into the labour market situation. Notably, this data was collected before the outbreak of hostilities in April 2023, which further exacerbated the displacement crisis in Sudan.

The analysis reveals the intricate interplay between these recent shocks and long-standing structural issues within Sudan’s labour supply. The country has a large youth population, high total fertility rates, and a prevalence of early marriages, resembling Sub-Saharan Africa more than the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). By 2022, progress in expanding education had stagnated, particularly in rural areas, with persistent gender disparities in access and enrollment.

Labour force participation exhibited a significant decline in 2022, particularly among women. Alternative forms of participation, such as family businesses and subsistence agriculture, may explain the sustained involvement of women, especially in rural settings. Youth face high unemployment, but for women, elevated unemployment rates persist into middle age.

Agriculture remains a significant driver of Sudan’s labour market, alongside substantial informal wage work outside the sector. Notably, informality is widespread in the private sector, leaving a considerable portion of workers without employment benefits or protections. Predominant private sector wage work occurs in microenterprises, characterized by informality, irregularity, and work conducted outside formal structures.

The study underscores the need to address demographic pressures, educational disparities, gender inequalities, and the prevalence of informal employment in Sudan’s labour market. Structural transformation, economic recovery, and political stability are vital for Sudan’s long-term prosperity. It also highlights the necessity for further research and data collection to gain a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted impact of recent political and economic challenges on Sudan’s society and labour market. Read the working paper here.

Introducing the Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey 2022

This paper introduces the Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey (SLMPS) 2022, the first nationally representative survey in Sudan in nearly a decade. It delves into the survey’s design, covering its diverse subject matter and the intricate sampling strategy. The study specifically focused on oversampling refugees and internally displaced populations. It also describes the training, fieldwork, the resulting sample, and the application of weights.

Key demographic and labour market indicators are compared with older nationally representative data sources to validate the SLMPS data and update our understanding of Sudan’s labour market. This rich and publicly available dataset offers substantial opportunities for researchers to gain insights into Sudan’s evolving labour market, economy, and society.

The SLMPS 2022 is part of the Labor Market Panel Survey series conducted by the Economic Research Forum (ERF) since 1998. Despite numerous challenges, including political strife, economic instability, a major pandemic, civil conflict, and weather shocks, the research team successfully implemented the survey to provide valuable socioeconomic data for Sudan.

The fieldwork for the SLMPS 2022 was conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) from June to September 2022, resulting in a nationally representative sample of 4,878 households and 25,442 individuals.

Prior to this survey, the most recent nationally representative data for Sudan dated back to the 2014/15 Sudan Household Budget Survey and the 2014 round of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. All previous nationally representative surveys predate the secession of South Sudan in 2011, making the SLMPS 2022 data vital for updating our knowledge of Sudan’s economic and social landscape. Read the working paper here.

A small selection of our Projects

Our newest publications

The Roles of Information and Search Frictions in Determining Working Conditions in Bangladesh’s Apparel Sector

The emergence of low-skill manufacturing sectors in developing countries can increase labor market opportunities and provide other economic benefits for women (Heath and Mobarak, 2015; Tanaka, 2017). However, in light of the poor conditions that characterize many low-skill manufacturing sectors, some researchers have questioned whether manufacturing jobs are actually better for workers than their alternatives (Blattman and Dercon, 2018; Blattman, Dercon, and Franklin, 2019).

In this project, we experimentally investigate to what extent information and search frictions in Bangladesh’s labor market contribute to inefficient matching between workers and firms, and how these frictions interact with gender. Specifically, we implement a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with men and women who have recently begun working in Bangladesh’s garments sector. We will provide information about job characteristics (wages and working conditions), job openings, or both, and then assess the impact of treatment on outcomes such as their beliefs about working conditions and wages in the garments sector, job search activity, and employment outcomes.

The proposed project tests whether these frictions are particularly salient to female workers. Low-skill manufacturing jobs often provide women in early industrializing countries with their first formal sector employment opportunities (e.g., Heath and Mobarak, 2015). Women may particularly value good working conditions, given reports of sexual harassment and other abuse directed disproportionately towards female workers (Khosla 2009; Begum, Hossain and Shalid, 2010; Gibbs et al 2019; Subramanian, 2019). At the same time, women may lack information about working conditions and job vacancies due to poor literacy, lower access to mobile phones and other technology, and gender-segregated networks for information sharing. Indeed, Menzel and Woodruff (2019) find that female workers who have lower mobility rates than male workers accordingly earn less and receive fewer promotions. This project will thus suggest whether policies to alleviate information frictions can help to close such gender gaps.

The Structure of the Labor Force and Employment in Sudan

Sudan’s economy and society have been repeatedly disrupted by political turmoil since 2018, with challenges further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. How this turbulent period has affected Sudan’s labour market was previously unknown, as Sudan’s last household survey was in 2014/15. This paper investigates the state of Sudan’s labour market as of 2022, using the new, nationally-representative Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey data. The analyses examine labour supply, including the evolution of the age structure of the Sudanese population, the trends in age at marriage and fertility, the educational composition of the population, current enrollment rates, labour force participation, as well as employment and unemployment rates. The analyses also investigate the structure of employment by broad economic activity and institutional sector, by occupation, and by degree of informality. The results of the analyses show sizeable demographic pressures on Sudan’s labour market from a large youth population. While historically Sudan had made appreciable progress in expanding access to education, that progress plateaued for cohorts born in the 1980s and later. Declines in labour force participation over time and particularly for women may reflect the labour market impacts of Sudan’s recent political and economic turbulence. Unemployment is primarily a challenge for youth, new entrants to the labour market. Agriculture continues to play a sizeable role in employment in Sudan, along with non-wage non-agricultural work and informal wage work. Informality is extremely high in private sector wage work (98%), and employment is largely within microenterprises. Relatively few private sector wage workers receive employment benefits or protections, with 60% working outside establishments and 37% working irregularly, highlighting the elevated level of vulnerable employment in Sudan.

Introducing the Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey 2022

This paper describes the new Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey (SLMPS) 2022, the first nationally representative survey in Sudan in almost a decade. The paper details the design of the survey, including the topics covered by this multi-purpose household survey and the complexities of the sampling strategy, which over-sampled refugees and the internally displaced. The training, fieldwork, resulting sample, and weights are described. Key demographic and labour market indicators are then compared to other, older nationally representative data sources, both to assess the validity of the SLMPS data and update our understanding of Sudan’s labour market. The rich, publicly available data of the SLMPS provide substantial opportunities for researchers to better understand the evolution of Sudan’s labour market, economy, and society.

Childcare, labor supply, and business development

Social norms, market imperfections and the structure of the labour market may limit women’s labour market opportunities in low-in- come contexts. While access to childcare has been critical for mothers’ labor supply in many high-income countries (Baker et al., 2008; Gelbach, 2002; Goldin, 2021), it remains an open question whether it can improve maternal labour market outcomes in low-in- come settings and how it affects other household members. We present findings from a field experiment that we designed and implemented in Uganda to understand the impact of free childcare on the mother’s business development and labour supply. More- over, we add to the literature by also considering the impact of childcare on the labour supply of other household members, as well as a range of outcomes related to family welfare, including child development.

Can Informed Buyers Improve Goods Quality?

We study whether adding informed buyers to a market can improve the quality of goods supplied by sellers, in an environment where goods quality is difficult to observe. To do so, we implement a market-level intervention, randomizing rural markets in Kenya into a community-wide information campaign. Small-scale farmers in treated market areas were trained to identify hybrid maize seeds that are quality-verified. In this setting, there are widespread concerns about deceptive counterfeits and other uncertified seeds of lower quality. We find that observable markers predict seed quality. Treatment increased knowledge of these markers, affected seed purchase decisions, and increased maize production. Impacts were heterogeneous, with more educated and more remotely located farmers benefiting more. Uninformed buyers in treated communities did not gain better access to high-quality seeds, as revealed by data from secret shoppers. These patterns can be explained by a model in which informed buyers can detect quality and can change sellers if needed to obtain higher quality. However, more informed consumers hurt firm profits and can induce sellers to exit the market if upgrading quality is too costly. As a result, uninformed consumers may not benefit from the presence of more informed consumers. Consistent with these predictions, we find that treatment caused many seed sellers to exit the market. Taken together, the findings document new stylized facts and provide evidence relevant for boosting yields of a staple crop. More generally, they provide lessons concerning the role of improved consumer information in disciplining firms in low-information environments.

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