African Jobs in the Digital Era: Export Options with a Focus on Online Labour

Summary

Can IT-enabled services exports become an alternative driver of African catch-up growth, the way light manufacturing was for East Asia? Automation may cut the demand for low-cost labour in global value chains. The paper presents Kenya's growing online freelancing sector as evidence of sector growth and of workers moving up, and it discusses what makes online work a path that lasts.

Citation

Melia, E. (2020). African jobs in the digital era: Export options with a focus on online labour (Discussion Paper 3/2020). German Development Institute (DIE).

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Topics

online work · Kenya · services exports · catch-up growth