This Policy Note offers a synopsis of a study, detailed in Working Paper 27, which examined Malawi’s employment landscape, focusing on the challenges facing its rapidly growing youth. Using three rounds of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS) conducted between 2004 and 2016, the study finds little evidence of structural transformation in Malawi’s economy or of youth being in the vanguard of changes in cross-sectoral patterns of employment. Tabular analysis and multivariate modelling of employment choices show that youth are not participating in the limited growth that has occurred in services. Agriculture remains the sector in which most Malawians first obtain employment, and it is only later in their working lives that Malawian workers, particularly males, are in a position to obtain employment outside of agriculture alone. Malawi’s challenging employment landscape for youth is characterized by a scarcity of jobs outside agriculture and insufficient work hours within agriculture. To generate employment for its growing youth population, Malawi’s economy will need to diversify.
Authors: Bob Baulch, Todd Benson, Alvina Erman, Yanjanani Lifeyo, and Priscilla Mkweta, 2019.
Click here to read and download the Policy Note. (PDF 330 KB)
