By 2030, Africa to Host a Quarter of the World's Youth: Navigating the Future of Work in Africa with the Africa Youth Employment Clock
Africa stands on the cusp of a demographic shift unparalleled in its history. Over the next decade, the continent is expected to witness a surge in its youth population (individuals aged 15 to 35), with an increase of 130 million. This period, from 2021 to 2030, could redefine Africa's economic and social landscape. This demographic evolution positions the continent as a significant player on the global stage, with one in four youths worldwide calling Africa home by 2030.
The implications of this demographic evolution are profound, posing critical questions about the availability of opportunities for the continent's burgeoning youth population. Central to addressing these concerns is ensuring access to decent, dignified employment, a challenge that the Africa Youth Employment Clock, an innovative tool developed by the World Data Lab in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, aims to tackle head-on.
The Africa Youth Employment Clock is a cutting-edge tool designed to monitor real-time job growth and forecast employment trends across the continent, disaggregated by employment status, age, gender, and sector, up to 2030. This labor market model is the first of its kind, offering a comprehensive source of youth employment data in Africa, intended to inform the strategic decision-making of policymakers, development actors, and other stakeholders in the youth and labor ecosystem.
“We are proud to partner with the Mastercard Foundation to launch the Africa YouthEmployment Clock. We believe in the power of youth employment data in Africa – offering the basis for more informed decision-making. The Clock will allow governments, private sector, and young people, to have access to more nuanced data on the concrete youth employment questions they have.” said Dr. Wolfgang Fengler, CEO, Word Data Lab.
Leveraging surveys and datasets from national statistics offices, the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the Clock's data analytical model enables consistent, comparable data across countries. Its user-friendly, publicly available digital platform, www.africayouthjobs.io, provides country-level youth employment data for all 54 African states, with sub-national data currently available for Kenya and Rwanda, and plans to expand to include other countries supported by the Mastercard Foundation.
The launch of the Africa Youth Employment Clock represents a significant step towards addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by Africa's demographic shift. It underscores the importance of credible data in crafting policies and interventions that aim to harness the potential of Africa's youth, positioning them as a dynamic workforce and leaders capable of addressing local and global challenges. As we move towards a future where Africa's youth will play an increasingly central role in shaping our world, tools like the Africa Youth Employment Clock will be indispensable in navigating the path to more inclusive and prosperous societies.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Anne Mason
anne.mason@worlddata.io
About World Data Lab:
World Data Lab (WDL) has a mission to create public goods that bring clarity to - and heighten the visibility of - some of the most complex challenges of our time, including the development of datasets and tools that track United Nations SDGs in real-time. To date, this includes tracking poverty, hunger, water scarcity, gender, health, and internet access in close cooperation with leading global organizations and governments (UNICEF, OECD, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and many more). By combining new data sources with groundbreaking modeling methods, WDL assists the public, governments, and other organizations in making data-driven decisions to solve the world's biggest challenges. These tools are developed as part of our mission to democratize data and make it accessible and actionable for everyone. In short, making everyone count.
