Differential earnings, household division of labour and Fertility Choices: An Application of the “Doing Gender” Hypothesis in Ghana

The project aims to examine the evidence for the “Doing Gender” hypothesis in Ghana. We examine whether greater earnings by Ghanaian women is associated with increased household bargaining power, proxied by the division of housework between a...

• Employment
• Gender
• Labour Markets

• Côte d'Ivoire
• Ghana

Overcoming Constraints to Female Labor Force Entry

We propose a randomised controlled trial to test the impact of two low-cost interventions to overcome psychological and information constraints to female labor force participation (FLFP). Our research questions are, does (i) motivating female...

• Employment
• Gender
• Job Search
• Labour Markets

• Pakistan

Seasonal Migration and Agricultural Labor Markets in Nepal

In rural agrarian economies, the period between planting and harvest is often a “lean season” when labor demand and wages fall, and the price of staples rise. The landless poor reliant on agricultural work on others’ farms are especially hard...

• Agriculture
• Intervention
• Labour Markets
• Migration
• Seasonality

• Nepal

Entrepreneurship Education and Teacher Training in Rwanda

Youth account for 60% of Africa’s unemployed. In Rwanda, 72% of employed youth work for family firms or are self-employed (African Economic Outlook 2016). These outcomes suggest that schools are failing to develop the skills required to enter...

• Education
• Employment
• Entrepeneurship
• Gender
• Human Capital
• Labor Productivity

• Rwanda

Relaxing Seasonal Constraints to Improve Labor Productivity

Scaling up with a Private Sector Partner

Despite increased investment and international competition in agriculture, small-scale farming continues to be the most common economic activity in many developing countries. In Zambia, 60% of the population lives in rural areas, where 78% of the...

• Agriculture
• Intervention
• Investment
• Labor Productivity
• RCT

• Zambia

Urban Density and Labour Markets

Evaluating Slum Redevelopment in Addis Ababa

Many of the world‘s poorest people live and work in dense informal settlements in Africa’s growing megacities. These communities have both positives and negatives. On one side, settlements, often located in central areas, provide workers...

• Entrepeneurship
• Environment
• Labour Markets
• Urban

• Ethiopia

Impacts of Microfranchising on Young Women’s Occupational Choices

Youth underemployment is a major challenge facing developing nations, particularly in Africa (Filmer and Fox 2014). Young people are more likely to be unemployed than older adults (Kluve et al. 2016). In low-income countries, unemployment figures...

• Employment
• Gender
• Labour Markets
• RCT
• Youth

• Kenya

Training, Financing, and Matching between Workers and Firms

Evidence from Bangladesh

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in income and employment generation in local economies, and SMEs account for a large share of businesses in low and income countries (LMICs). SMEs in LMICs are concentrated in activities...

• Employment
• Firms
• RCT
• Skill Training
• Training Programs

• Bangladesh

A Labour Markets Research Agenda through a Job Search Platform

Labour markets in low-income countries experience many frictions that impair efficient firm-worker matching (Behrman, 1999). Information frictions can hinder firms’ attempts to observe workers’ skills and productivity (Abel et al., 2016;...

• Employment
• Firm
• Gender
• Job Search
• Labour Markets

• Pakistan

Advancing Data Capacity for Policy Innovation in Sudan

Labor Market Panel Survey 2019

The objective of the Sudan Labor Market Panel Survey (SLMPS) 2019 is to facilitate better understandings of labor market dynamics and outcomes in Sudan. Our goal with the SLMPS 2019 is to collect high-quality and reliable data sufficient for...

• Agriculture
• Education
• Employment
• Fertility
• Migration

• Sudan

Are Labor Costs in Africa too High?

An Empirical Investigation

High labor costs appear to be a factor that undermines the creation of low-skill jobs in formal manufacturing firms at a large scale in several African countries. First, there exists a small number of formal manufacturing firms in Africa. These...

• Firms
• Labour Costs
• Labour Markets

• Ethiopia

Measuring Labour in Farm Households in Africa

In low-income countries, work in household owned and managed farms account for a large share of the labour force. Yet, to date, there is very little research on the approaches to measuring farm labour. Typically most measurements of farm labour...

• Agriculture
• Labour Markets

• Tanzania

Modelling Labour Markets in LICs with Imperfect Data

Despite the centrality of the labour market to the questions of poverty and inequality, African labour markets are not well understood and significant research gaps exist. These gaps have important implications: they weaken the ability of...

• Labour Markets

• Kenya
• Malawi
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• Zambia

Wage Compression in Low Income Labour Markets

Do relative pay comparisons matter for worker behaviour? A long tradition in economic thought – as well as in psychology, sociology, and human resource management – has advanced the notion that individuals care about not only their own pay, but...

• Labour Markets
• Pay Comparison
• Productivity
• RCT

• India

The Urban Geography of Entrepeneurship and Growth in India

Rapid urbanisation is a major phenomenon in many developing countries. Cities are the engines of economic development; however, little is known about what determines the success of cities in developing countries, nor about the factors that shape the...

• Entrepeneurship
• Infrastructure
• Labour Markets
• Transport

• India

Promoting Migrant Remittances using Mobile Banking

Evidence from a Field Experiment

Recent research has shown that migrant remittances are extremely important sources of funding for developing countries, as they are generally large in magnitude and stable in times of macroeconomic volatility. But there is still much to be learned...

• Migration
• Remittance

• Mozambique

Asymmetric Information on the Skills of Workers and Matching in the Labour Market

Evidence from Uganda

Youth unemployment is a serious issue in developing countries, where around 60% of young people are currently unemployed or underemployed [ILO 2013]. Understanding the determinants of youth employment in LICs is thus highly policy relevant, not just...

• Firms
• Job Search
• RCT
• Skill Training
• Youth

• Uganda

Matched Employee-Employer Panel-Data for Labour Market Analysis in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a low-income economy emerging from a decade long economic crisis. The crisis had a profound impact on production, employment and human development. The policy challenges to growth and recovery are severe and will require rigorous...

• Employment
• Labour Markets
• Skill Training

• Zimbabwe

Women’s Access to Public Transport and Labour Force Participation

This project focuses on the labour market entry situation for women in Pakistan. Social norms against women coming into close contact with unrelated men and the discomfort social stigma and threat of possible harassment when they do so, restricts...

• Employment
• Gender
• RCT
• Transport

• Pakistan

Social Insurance and Labour Market Outcomes in Ethiopia

The project focuses on the labour market conditions in Ethiopia. Within the project it is important to examine the effects of labour market conditions. State Institution programmes which are properly enforced like the recent pension reform in...

• Labour Markets
• Pension

• Ethiopia

Fairtrade, Labour Markets and Women’s Economic Empowerment in Ethiopia

Fairtrade has spread under the promise that it has the power to lift poor smallholder farmers out of poverty by providing them with technical assistance, credit, and better prices for their crops. Fairtrade is also viewed as a niche market for high...

• Employment
• Fairtrade
• Gender

• Ethiopia

The Formal-Informal Labour Nexus and Growth

The Case of Bangladesh

Although employment in low-income countries (LICs) is strikingly concentrated in the informal sector, the contribution of this sub-economy to the larger economy is not well understood. The traditional view holds that labour markets are segmented;...

• Employment
• Information
• Labour Markets
• RCT

• Bangladesh

Empowering Women through Public Policy

Can Gender Sensitive Policy Reform to a Major Public Works Program Encourage Female Work and Improve Women's Wellbeing?

In 2005, India’s Parliament passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, a landmark in social protection legislation for the country. The Act moved employment into the domain of legally enforceable rights for a population no less than 120...

• Employment
• Gender
• Public Works Program
• RCT

• India

Labour Markets and Household Enterprises

Evidence from New Nationally Representative Surveys in Five African Countries

It is a general tenet of economic theory that competitive markets, supported by adequate infrastructure and institutions, do a better job of determining prices and allocating resources than do large-scale government planning programmes. In the...

• Labour Markets

• Ethiopia
• Malawi
• Tanzania
• Uganda

Reducing Extreme Poverty through Skill Training for Industry Job Placement

The Case of RMG in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has been experiencing remarkable growth in the ready-made garments (RMG) industries for the last three decades. It has become an integral and major part of Bangladesh’s economy, which contributes 13 percent of GDP and 75 percent of...

• Garment
• RCT
• Skill Training
• Vocational

• Bangladesh