Employment creation potential, labor skills requirements, and skill gaps for young people: A South African case study

Structural change is taking place in Africa, but with a pattern that is distinct from the historical experience of the industrialized countries and contemporary East Asia: In short, export-led manufacturing is playing a much smaller role in the structural transformation of Africa's economies. Services--some with quite low productivity--absorb the bulk of African workers leaving agriculture and moving to cities. These changes reflect the impact of technological progress and a changing global marketplace on Africa's prospects of industrialization.