Understanding the impact of human capital on the development of secondary cities in Côte d'Ivoire

The economic upturn in Côte d'Ivoire since the 2010s has had a limited impact on employment. The transition to employment is often difficult: 35% of 16-35 year olds are far from the labour market (neither employees, nor educated or in training). Moreover, the share of informal employment remains very high (89.4% in 2019). In this context, as a result of population growth, 300,000 young graduates join the job market every year – and an equivalent number leave the education system without a diploma, and without prospects. The mismatch between skills and job offers would be one of the explanations for the difficulties of integrating young people into the labour market.

If these young people carry economic and social development opportunities, they also carry risks if their potential is not used. Population growth makes it imperative to understand changes in labour supply and demand in order to adapt the education and learning system to the needs of the local labour market.

This research project aims to analyze the supply and demand of skills in Bouaké, Daloa, San-Pedro and Korhogo, four secondary cities in Côte d'Ivoire with strong economic potential but that is still little exploited. The city of Abidjan, on which the majority of studies on Côte d'Ivoire focus, is not specifically addressed by this research, but it remains the "reference" case for the analysis of the situations of secondary cities.

Deepening the results of a previous research project on the mismatch between skills and jobs in Côte d'Ivoire, this research project aims to enrich national knowledge on the functioning of the labour market and the nature of bottlenecks that make the transition to employment difficult for young people, as well as to make recommendations aimed at promoting employment and the attractiveness of the four cities.

Additionally, the project includes capacity-building activities specifically targeting young CREMIDE researchers, to support them in the development of their research and to encourage the establishment of scientific partnerships through their participation in international conferences, workshops and training seminars, and through residence in specialized research centres. 

The study will include an in-depth examination of the structure and composition (demography, training and skills) of the local workforce, and of spatial inequalities in skills supply and demand. A gender-specific assessment of the local skills supply will also be carried out, as well as a prospective analysis of the impact of technological developments on the labour market in these cities.

The data used will come from both employment surveys available since 1993 and field surveys conducted during this project. The analysis will incorporate a prospective aspect aimed at understanding jobs in Côte d'Ivoire by 2025 and 2030.

Knowledge will be shared with the research community and made available to national and local decision-makers through workshops, conferences and publications in adapted formats to inform public decision-making.

Contact: 

• Linda Zanfini, research officer at AFD