Malawi S Challenging Employment Landscape

Using three rounds of the Integrated Household Survey conducted between 2004 and 2016, this paper examines Malawi’s challenging employment landscape, focusing on its rapidly growing youth. It finds little evidence of a structural transformation in Malawi’s economy or of youth being in the vanguard of any changes in cross-sectoral patterns of employment. Most Malawians spend all of their working years in the agricultural sector – indeed, the share of employment in agriculture in Malawi rose slightly between 2004 and 2016, though the share of full-time jobs inside agriculture declined during this period. Tabular analysis and multivariate modelling of employment choices show that youth are not participating in the limited growth that has occurred in services. Agriculture remains the sector in which most Malawians first obtain employment, and it is only later in their working lives that Malawian workers, particularly males, are in a position to obtain employment outside of agriculture alone. Malawi’s challenging employment landscape for youth is characterized by a scarcity of jobs outside agriculture and insufficient work hours within agriculture.

This policy note examines employment patterns for evidence of the extent to which a structural transformation is underway in Malawi. We explore whether Malawi’s labor force shifted out of the subsistence agriculture sector and into the industry and service sectors. To better understand the role of the large youth population in structural transformation, we assess the extent of youth employment in agriculture and in services, and the factors shaping their choices. We conclude with a discussion of how policy can support transformation and job creation for youth.

Malawi has suffered from weak economic growth since its independence in 1964. Over 50 percentof the population live below the poverty line, unable to produce enough or to otherwise obtain sufficient income to meet all of their basic needs. Poverty is concentrated in rural areas. Smallholder agriculture dominates employment in rural Malawi. However, with continuing population growth, the average landholding size for smallholder farming households is declining, resulting in many being unable to produce sufficient food to meet their own needs. To escape poverty, rural households increasingly must diversify their sources of income, but many lack the human and financial capital to do so. In this report, a detailed examination is provided of the agricultural production, non-farm employment patterns, and overall incomes obtained by farming households across Malawi using data from the fifth Malawi Integrated Household Survey (IHS5), conducted in 2019/20. The analysis demonstrates that most poor farming households will never be able to escape poverty through their farming alone, even with substantially higher crop productivity. Rainfed cropping remains the primary form of agricultural production for farming households in Malawi. While increasing numbers are engaging in irrigated farming during the dry season, the returns from such farming are inconsistent and low. More importantly, off-farm income sources, particularly temporary ganyu wage employment, are now critical to the livelihoods of most rural households, particularly those with small cropland holdings. The common assumption that agriculture is at the center of the livelihoods of rural households across Malawi no longer holds. Of equal importance is their ability to obtain sufficiently remunerative off-farm employment. In developing strategies for rural economic and human development in Malawi, accelerating agricultural production growth, particularly through increased productivity, and increasing the returns to farming are necessary, but incomplete solutions. Equal attention must now be paid to how workers in farming households can also qualify for and obtain good off-farm jobs. Without increases in such employment opportunities, the economies of most rural communities across Malawi are likely to stagnate and poverty will deepen among households living in them.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the IFIP WG 8.2, 9.1, 9.4 Joint Working Conference on the Future of Digital Work: The Challenge of Inequality, IFIPJWC 2020, which was supposed to be held in Hyderabad, India, in December 2020, but was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This conference was organized for IFIP’s 60th anniversary and to commemorate its mission to “achieve worldwide professional and socially responsible development and application of ICTs.” The 22 full papers presented together with an introduction and two keynotes were carefully reviewed and selected from 29 submissions. They are organized in topics on: innovation and entrepreneurship; the social significance of digital platforms; transforming healthcare; and the dark side of digitalization.

Malawi is a landlocked country located in southeastern Africa. It is one of the smallest countries on the African continent, with a total population of around 19.13 million people. The country is bordered by Tanzania to its northeast, Zambia to its west, and Mozambique to its east and south. Malawi is known for its natural beauty, including Lake Malawi, which is the third-largest lake in Africa and the ninth-largest lake in the world. Malawi was previously known as Nyasaland, a British protectorate. The country gained independence in 1964 and has since become a democratic republic with a multi-party political system. Malawi's economy is predominantly agricultural, with a large portion of the population involved in subsistence farming. Despite some economic progress in recent years, Malawi is considered one of the poorest countries in the world, with high levels of poverty, unemployment, and gender inequality.

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