Youth unemployment and earnings in Africa: evidence from Tanzanian retrospective data
We exploit a unique data set of individual labour market histories in urban Tanzania to estimate the effect of early labour market experiences on adult labour market outcomes. We consider four labour market entry states—wage employment, self-employment, unpaid worker in the family business and unemp...
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| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38519/ |
| _version_ | 1848795630141440000 |
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| author | Bridges, Sarah Fox, Louise Gaggero, Alessio Owens, Trudy |
| author_facet | Bridges, Sarah Fox, Louise Gaggero, Alessio Owens, Trudy |
| author_sort | Bridges, Sarah |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | We exploit a unique data set of individual labour market histories in urban Tanzania to estimate the effect of early labour market experiences on adult labour market outcomes. We consider four labour market entry states—wage employment, self-employment, unpaid worker in the family business and unemployed job-seeker—and estimate how final earnings are associated with each entry state. The findings suggest that how individuals enter the labour market does matter for final earnings. We find that an initial period spent in wage employment is associated with an important earnings premium. We interpret this finding as evidence of the entrapment hypothesis, in that, people who enter the labour market in more disadvantaged positions, such as in the household enterprise, either as self-employed or as unpaid family workers, suffer a penalty in their future earnings. These findings persist after controlling for family specific fixed effects. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:35:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-38519 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:35:08Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-385192020-05-04T18:14:28Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38519/ Youth unemployment and earnings in Africa: evidence from Tanzanian retrospective data Bridges, Sarah Fox, Louise Gaggero, Alessio Owens, Trudy We exploit a unique data set of individual labour market histories in urban Tanzania to estimate the effect of early labour market experiences on adult labour market outcomes. We consider four labour market entry states—wage employment, self-employment, unpaid worker in the family business and unemployed job-seeker—and estimate how final earnings are associated with each entry state. The findings suggest that how individuals enter the labour market does matter for final earnings. We find that an initial period spent in wage employment is associated with an important earnings premium. We interpret this finding as evidence of the entrapment hypothesis, in that, people who enter the labour market in more disadvantaged positions, such as in the household enterprise, either as self-employed or as unpaid family workers, suffer a penalty in their future earnings. These findings persist after controlling for family specific fixed effects. Oxford University Press 2016-10-31 Article PeerReviewed Bridges, Sarah, Fox, Louise, Gaggero, Alessio and Owens, Trudy (2016) Youth unemployment and earnings in Africa: evidence from Tanzanian retrospective data. Journal of African Economies . ISSN 1464-3723 Labour market entry Youth unemployment Wage equation http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejw020 doi:10.1093/jae/ejw020 doi:10.1093/jae/ejw020 |
| spellingShingle | Labour market entry Youth unemployment Wage equation Bridges, Sarah Fox, Louise Gaggero, Alessio Owens, Trudy Youth unemployment and earnings in Africa: evidence from Tanzanian retrospective data |
| title | Youth unemployment and earnings in Africa: evidence from Tanzanian retrospective data |
| title_full | Youth unemployment and earnings in Africa: evidence from Tanzanian retrospective data |
| title_fullStr | Youth unemployment and earnings in Africa: evidence from Tanzanian retrospective data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Youth unemployment and earnings in Africa: evidence from Tanzanian retrospective data |
| title_short | Youth unemployment and earnings in Africa: evidence from Tanzanian retrospective data |
| title_sort | youth unemployment and earnings in africa: evidence from tanzanian retrospective data |
| topic | Labour market entry Youth unemployment Wage equation |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38519/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38519/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38519/ |