The urban labour market during structural adjustment: Ethiopia 1990-1997

Abstract

The paper examines the effects of reform and structural adjustment on the urban labour market in Ethiopia using a combination of cross-section and panel data based on surveys conducted both pre- and post- reform. During this period Ethiopia has seen impressive growth in GDP but little in the way of private investment. Meanwhile, the labour market has remained remarkably unresponsive to the pressures of reform despite the growing queues of the educated unemployed. While the public sector has contracted over the period, real wages have been re-adjusted to almost pre-reform levels; furthermore, real wages have grown in the private sector, while returns to education have remained largely unaffected.