Structural Adjustment and Rural Labour Markets in Africa

by Vali Jamal (Editor)

Overview

Based on case studies of Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia, the book examines the changes in rural labour markets as a result of a decade of structural adjustment programmes. These programmes were meant to shift relative prices in favour of the agricultural sector, and, within the agricultural sector, in favour of export crops. In response, labour should have moved to the favoured sector. The case studies show that such a shift did not occur and the overview chapter elaborates the complexities of the African labour markets which ensured this outcome.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333629796
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	12/19/1994
Series:	The ILO Studies Series
Edition description:	1995
Pages:	186
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

List of Tables - Preface - Acknowledgements - Notes on Contributors - Adjustment Programmes and Adjustment: Confronting the New Parameters of African Economies; V.Jamal - Adjustment, Rural Labour and Inequality: Sierra Leone; J.Weeks - Structural Adjustment and Tanzania's Peasantry: Assessing the Likely Long Term Impact; M.Bienefeld - Rural Labour Markets in an Adjusting Mineral Economy: Zambia; J.Loxley - Notes - Bibliography - Index

Editorial Reviews

Drawing on case studies of Sierre Leone, Tanzania, and Zambia, examines the changes in rural labor markets as a result of a decade of structural adjustment programs. The case studies explain why the anticipated labor shift to export crops in response to a shift in relative prices did not occur, and discuss factors such as the high premium on food security and the absence of reverse rural-urban migration. Includes an overview chapter on the complexities of African labor markets and the structural characteristics of African economies. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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