Economic Growth and Employment in the West African Economic and Monetary Union Countries

Description

This book is a collection of scientific articles exploring the capacity of economic growth to generate stable employment in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries. Different econometric approaches are used to ensure the robustness of the results, including simple panel models, ARDL and NARDL models. The results conclude that the income elasticity of non-vulnerable jobs is low. Nevertheless, we find a positive correlation between economic growth and employment stability in the short and long term. Services and industry are the primary sources of stable jobs in the long term. In addition, institutional factors accelerate employment adjustment to equilibrium during economic shocks. However, we find an asymmetric relationship between economic growth and employment, with the impact of economic recessions being stronger on long-term employment than on short-term employment. These results suggest that WAEMU countries are not yet able to utilise their economic potential to the benefit of employment fully. A stable, high-quality institutional framework would ensure quality jobs.