Underscoring Trade-Labour Mobility Nexus as Panacea Against Youth Unemployment in Africa

The Afrikan Youth Business Council (AfYBC), the Labour, Employment, and Migration Division (LEM) at the African Union Commission and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, recently hosted a joint webinar that explored the Nexus of Labour Migration, Trade and Youth Employment in Africa.

Forecasts show by 2030, Africa’s young people will account for 42% of the world’s youth population, just as the continent’s youth population will grow to 850 million by 2050.  This youth bulge presents a huge opportunity but also a gargantuan challenge: rising unemployment rates. In response to this, the African Union and International Labour Organisation (ILO) have jointly developed the Youth Employment Strategy for Africa (YES-Africa) as a strategic guiding document for tackling the continent’s ever-increasing youth employment challenge.

There is also the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aimed at boosting intra-African trade, deepening economic integration and creating meaningful and decent job opportunities for young people and their integration into labour markets. Yet, young people’s ability to take maximum advantage of the AfCFTA is constrained by their inability to move freely across national borders for trade and job opportunities. This again, emphasizes the crucial linkage between the AfCFTA and the AU’s Free Movement Protocol (AU-FMP).

Yet, unlike the AfCFTA which has been signed by all AU Member States (except Eritrea) and ratified by 48 countries, AU-FMP has only been signed by about 32 Member States and ratified by barely 4. It was against this backdrop that AfYBC webinar explored the interrelationship between labour migration and youth employment/youth entrepreneurship in Africa as well as the role of the AfCFTA and AU-FMP in creating decent jobs and employment opportunities for young people in Africa.

This virtual convening brought together AU policymakers, cross-border traders and young entrepreneurs from across Africa who discussed how labor migration and trade, driven by the AfCFTA, could serve as catalysts for youth employment and entrepreneurship in Africa. Amongst others, the webinar provided insights into the key drivers and barriers to labour migration among youth in Africa and enriched the participants’ understanding of the role of enhanced mobility in creating decent jobs and meaningful employment opportunities for young people.

Dr Sabelo Mbokazi, Head of Labour, Employment, and Migration (LEM) Division at the African Union Commission (AUC), delivered a keynote presentation examining the nexus of labor migration and youth employment further underlining the role of the AfCFTA as a driver of employment opportunities for Africa’s young people and a powerful vehicle for African integration and economic progress, in alignment with Agenda 2063, Africa’s strategic framework for socio-economic transformation.

“The catalytic role of the AfCFTA about accelerating African integration cannot be overstated; the AfCFTA would open up trade and labor mobility, crucial for creating jobs across key sectors. This is particularly significant for youth, many of whom are seeking sustainable employment opportunities or exploring entrepreneurial ventures. The Youth Employment Strategy, crafted in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) is aligned with the objectives of the AfCFTA,” said Dr Mbokazi stated.

The AU migration chief said labor migration presents both opportunities and challenges for Africans reiterating that while legal frameworks for the free movement of people across Africa such as the AU’s migration policies such as the AU-FMP were yet to be fully ratified, regional and bilateral initiatives were already facilitating and easing up free movement among Member States and by extension labor migration.

“The vision is for all youth to be empowered to transform their lives and communities through productive and decent employment. To this end, I want to stress the importance of creating legal and safe migration routes to curb trafficking and smuggling, which pose significant threats to vulnerable migrants, particularly young people, because without addressing the need for regular pathways, conversations on labor migration cannot become a reality,” Dr Mbokazi emphasized.

Labour Mobility as Panacea Against Africa’s Youth Employment

Another webinar speaker, Ms. Gugulethu Siso, the CEO and co-founder of Thumeza, a Zimbabwean logistics firm, spoke on labour migration as a panacea against youth unemployment in Africa and shared her practical experience working and setting up businesses in two foreign African countries – South Africa and Namibia. Ms Siso provided an account of her journey as a Zimbabwean migrant studying and later working and establishing enterprises in Namibia and later South Africa.

As a migrant job-seeker and entrepreneur, she navigated the complexities of business and employment opportunities in these two African countries, successfully navigating challenges to do with complexities of unfamiliar regulatory environments, cultural integration, limited access to local business networks and securing permits, amongst other hurdles.  Siso’s story underscored the daily challenges young African entrepreneurs face, particularly those operating outside their home countries.

Despite her tall entrepreneurial ambitions Ms Siso eventually found the barriers difficult to allow her establish long-term stability. Eventually, she returned to her native Zimbabwe and was able to adapt to the local business environment. “I had under the employment of the startup I co-founded in Namibia for over 50 unskilled workers. From the Namibian government’s perspective, I was an asset, but getting an employment permit was an issue I had to apply for visas repeatedly, making long-term stability difficult,” she said.

For young entrepreneurs operating in foreign countries who often lack the networks and connections Siso emphasized the importance of social capital as vital for business success, noting that the AfCFTA provides reasons for optimism among young entrepreneurs. “Trade agreements like the AfCFTA and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) have tangible benefits, particularly for small traders who are looking to cross borders.  Indeed, removing cross-border trade barriers will stimulate economic growth and create jobs especially for women and youth who are the drivers of entrepreneurship in Africa,” she noted.

Daily Challenges of Young African Women in Cross-Border Trade

Mrs Aishatu Debola Aminu, Interim President of the West African Cross-border Women Traders Association (AFOACT), shared the challenges associated with cross-border trade among women in West Africa including access to finance, high tariffs, insecurity and poor infrastructure. “These barriers are compounded by the absence of collateral required for loans, which limits women’s ability to scale their businesses and access new markets. For young women, these challenges are even more pronounced, as informal trade dominates the landscape,” she pointed out.

The AFOACT President said nearly 70% of cross-border trade in Africa is informal, which presents both opportunities and risks, with many young traders, particularly women, finding the informal sector easier to enter and navigate but having to deal with sustainability issues due to a lack of regulation and support. “There is also limited digital literacy which is a major obstacle for women and youth trying to engage in informal trade. Therefore, there is need for capacity building to address these challenges,” she said.

Mrs Aminu also called for policy harmonization across West Africa to ease cross-border trade between countries like Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal. This, she argued, would significantly improve access to markets for women and youth, while reducing the bureaucratic hurdles that currently stifle trade. She also underscored the importance of social protection for young labor migrants and their products to ensurepeople moving across borders are safeguarded through adequate protective measures.

By 2063, young people will represent half of Africa’s 2 billion working-age population. This underscores the necessity for the continent to harness the power of its young population through initiatives like the AfCFTA and YES-Africa as pathways to create jobs and foster entrepreneurship. Achieving these requires coordinated efforts from governments, private sector actors, and international partners to dismantle the barriers to free movement and labour mobility.