The African Development Bank (AfDB) has produced a comprehensive new guidebook on labour force statistics to aid statisticians in Africa in their analysis/Entitled: 'Labour Force Data Analysis: Guidelines with African specificities', the book is published by the Statistics Department of the Chief Economist's department of the AfDB.

The AfDB, in consultation with its regional member countries, identified a lack of expertise in data analysis of labour force surveys, which is a major drawback in the production of labour force statistics in many countries.

In an effort to deal with the issue, the AfDB decided to commission this guidebook so that statisticians in Africa will have a practical guide when analysing statistics on the labour force and so that users of these statistics will benefit from an introduction to methods for their analysis.

As well taking a global view, the guidebook includes data and comparisons related to certain African countries, including South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, Nigeria and Botswana.

The guidebook includes information on the very high unemployment rates among young people in South Africa, a situation that is facing young people in other countries in Africa and around the world.

A recent International Labour Organisation study reported that there were 75 million unemployed young peoples in the world.

Contacts

David Short