Journal of Economic Literature
Book Reviews
2026-09-01
Jessica Goldberg of University of Michigan reviews “Youth in Africa’s Labor Market” by Marito Garcia, Jean Fares,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Eleven papers examine the challenges African youth face in their transition to work and present a strategy for meeting these challenges. Papers discuss why it is important for Africa to invest in its youth (Marito Garcia and Jean Fares); transitions to working life for Africa’s youth (Garcia and Fares); how Africa’s young people spend their time (Garcia and Fares); the effect of education on income and employment (Garcia and Fares); working in bad jobs or not working at all (Garcia and Fares); the three pillars of policy--lessons from international experience (Garcia and Fares); school-to-work transitions--a regional overview (Lorenzo Guarcello, Marco Manacorda, Furio Rosati, Fares, Scott Lyon, and Cristina Valdivia); what determines labor market participation by youth in Burkina Faso (Daniel Parent); child labor and youth employment in Ethiopia (Guarcello, Lyon, and Rosati); youth in the labor market and the transition from school to work in Tanzania (Florence Kondylis and Manacorda); and how universal primary education affected returns to education and labor market participation in Uganda (Lisa Dragoset and Lars Vilhuber). Garcia is Lead Economist with the World Bank’s Human Development Department, Africa Region. Fares is Senior Economist with the World Bank’s Human Development Network. Index.”