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Rural underemployment and urbanization: Insights from a nine year household panel survey from Malawi

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Title Rural underemployment and urbanization: Insights from a nine year household panel survey from Malawi
 
Creator Cappellen, Hanne van
Weerdt, Joachim de
 
Subject rural population
underemployment
farmers
labour
urbanization
income
households
rural development
 
Description Rural labor markets in Africa are frequently characterized by underemployment, with farmers unable to fully deploy throughout the year one of their most important assets—their labor. Using a nine-year panel data set on 1,407 working-age adults from rural Malawi, we document changes in rural underemployment over this period and how they are associated with urbanization. Nearby urban growth results in increased hours worked in casual labor (ganyu) and in non-agricultural sectors, at the expense of work on the household farm. Improved urban access is also associated with a small increase in wage labor and, at the intensive mar gin, with hours supplied in household enterprises. We draw lessons from these results for policies, investments, and interventions to leverage urban growth for rural development.
 
Date 2023-09-22
2023-09-28T21:00:53Z
2023-09-28T21:00:53Z
 
Type Working Paper
 
Identifier Van Capellen, Hanne; and De Weerdt, Joachim. 2023. Rural underemployment and urbanization: Insights from a nine year household panel survey from Malawi. MaSSP Working Paper 43. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136900
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132055
https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136900
 
Language en
 
Relation MaSSP Working Paper
 
Rights Copyrighted; all rights reserved
Open Access
 
Format 60 p.
application/pdf
 
Publisher International Food Policy Research Institute