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Can urban growth reduce rural underemployment?

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Field Value
 
Title Can urban growth reduce rural underemployment?
 
Creator Weerdt, Joachim d
Cappellen, Hanne van
 
Subject urbanization
rural development
labour
poverty
income
rural population
economic aspects
value chains
agrifood systems
 
Description In a recent IFPRI working paper, Van Cappellen and De Weerdt (2023), we show how urban growth reduces underemployment in the rural hinterlands of towns and cities. But leveraging these labor market linkages between urban and rural areas for inclusive growth and poverty reduction will depend on overcoming two barriers. The first is that the jobs created are primarily low-skill, low productivity, and often casual (ganyu). Raising the human capital and productivity of the continually growing pool of rural workers, while simultaneously raising rural incomes to increase demand for the kind of off-farm goods and services they can provide, will be critical. Secondly, the labor market linkages between urban and rural areas operate primarily through the longer-established urban areas. Growth in Malawi’s newer emerging urban centers, while substantial, has not spilled over to rural labor markets yet. This is a missed opportunity and highlights the need for a geographically expansive urban investment strategy that includes fostering growth, agglomeration economies, and strong urban-rural linkages in Malawi’s smaller urban areas. Anchoring the development of smaller urban agglomerations in modernizing value chains, particularly in the agri-food sector, is one practical pathway for leveraging urbanization for inclusive development.
 
Date 2023-09-22
2023-09-27T21:24:48Z
2023-09-27T21:24:48Z
 
Type Brief
 
Identifier De Weerdt, Joachim; and Van Cappellen, Hanne. 2023. Can urban growth reduce rural underemployment? MaSSP Policy Note 50. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136899
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132041
https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136899
 
Language en
 
Relation MaSSP Policy Note
 
Rights CC-BY-4.0
Open Access
 
Format 9 p.
application/pdf
 
Publisher International Food Policy Research Institute