The relationship between education and labour force structure in African countries: gender comparison

This thesis investigates the association between education and person's labour market status in African countries, with specific focus on Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Data from the most recent household surveys conducted by respec- tive countries' statistical agencies are applied to this research. The analysis was further broken down by sex to examine, whether similar results could be derived for male and female population. This was achieved by carrying out the series of gender-specific logit models. The findings of this thesis suggest that more edu- cated people are more likely to engage in formal employment and less likely to engage in subsistence farming, regardless of gender or country. However, no clear association was found between education and unemployment. Furthermore, the returns to male's education were at least as significant as female's returns, if not larger, in terms of formal employment incidence. Keywords education, formal employment, gender disparity, subsistence farming, logit