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The impact of the investment climate on employment growth : does Sub-Saharan Africa mirror other low-income regions ?

Author

Listed:
  • Aterido, Reyes
  • Hallward-Driemeier, Mary
Abstract
Using survey data from 86,000 enterprises in 104 countries, including 17,000 enterprises in 31 Sub-Saharan African countries, this paper finds that average enterprise-level employment growth rates are remarkably similar across regions. This is true despite significant differences in the quality of the investment climate in which these enterprises operate. Objective measures of investment climate conditions (including the number of outages, the share of firms with bank loans, and others) indicate that conditions are most challenging within Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as for smaller enterprises. However, enterprises’ employment in Sub-Saharan Africa is less sensitive to changes in access to infrastructure and finance relative to other low-income regions. This can be understood by looking at non-linear effects by firm size -- and the finding that these size effects are particularly strong within Sub-Saharan Africa. Although unreliable infrastructure services and inadequate access to finance generally hamper growth, in Sub-Saharan Africa they are actually associated with higher employment growth rates among micro enterprises. Although employment growth is good news in Sub-Saharan Africa, that much of the expanded employment is in small, labor-intensive, less productive enterprises raises longer-run concerns about the efficiency of the allocation of resources and aggregate productivity growth in the region.

Suggested Citation

  • Aterido, Reyes & Hallward-Driemeier, Mary, 2010. "The impact of the investment climate on employment growth : does Sub-Saharan Africa mirror other low-income regions ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5218, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5218
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel A. Mekonnen & Olutayo Adeyemi & Rachel Gilbert & Dare Akerele & Thom Achterbosch & Anna Herforth, 2023. "Affordability of healthy diets is associated with increased food systems performance in Nigeria: state-level analysis," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-27, December.
    2. T. Dinh, Hinh & Mavridis, Dimitris A. & Nguyen, Hoa B., 2010. "The binding constraint on firms'growth in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5485, The World Bank.
    3. Krishnamurti, Chandrasekhar & Pensiero, Domenico & Velayutham, Eswaran, 2021. "Corruption risk and stock market effects: Evidence from the defence industry," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Era Dabla-Norris & Florian Misch & Duncan Cleary & Munawer Khwaja, 2020. "The quality of tax administration and firm performance: evidence from developing countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(3), pages 514-551, June.
    5. Emara, Noha & El Said, Ayah & Pearlman, Joseph, 2019. "On the Impact of Financial Inclusion on Financial Stability and Inequality: The Role of Macroprudential Policies," MPRA Paper 99258, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Ibrahim Mike Okumu & Edward Bbaale & Madina Mwagale Guloba, 2019. "Innovation and employment growth: evidence from manufacturing firms in Africa," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-27, December.
    7. Ebuka Christian Orjiakor, 2022. "Business climate and firm exit in developing countries: evidence from Nigeria," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Hinh T. Dinh & George R.G. Clarke, 2012. "Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Africa : An Empirical Analysis," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 11959.
    9. Fujita, Yasuo & Takeda, Asami, 2014. "Effects of Transport Corridor Development on Firms’ Locational Choice and Firms’ Perception of Business Environment: A Preliminary Analysis of Transport Corridors in Mozambique," Working Papers 74, JICA Research Institute.
    10. Banerjee, Rajabrata & Gupta, Kartick & Krishnamurti, Chandrasekhar, 2022. "Does corrupt practice increase the implied cost of equity?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    11. Judy S. Yang, 2017. "The governance environment and innovative SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 525-541, March.
    12. Reeg, Caroline, 2015. "Micro and small enterprises as drivers for job creation and decent work," IDOS Discussion Papers 10/2015, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    13. Pasali, Selahattin Selsah, 2013. "Where is the cheese ? synthesizing a giant literature on causes and consequences of financial sector development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6655, The World Bank.
    14. Şeker, Murat & Yang, Judy S., 2014. "Bribery solicitations and firm performance in the Latin America and Caribbean region," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 246-264.
    15. Seker, Murat & Yang, Judy S., 2012. "How bribery distorts firm growth : differences by firm attributes," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6046, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Access to Finance; Banks&Banking Reform; Microfinance; Labor Policies; Investment and Investment Climate;
    All these keywords.

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