NAIROBI, Kenya – Jobs being created across Sub-Saharan Africa are largely informal, low-quality, and unable to deliver long-term economic transformation, the World Bank has warned.
In its latest Africa’s Pulse report released this week, the lender notes that the region’s labour market remains dominated by self-employment and family-run businesses, with few medium or large firms capable of providing stable wage-paying jobs.
“Wage-paying jobs make up only 24 per cent of employment — and even less when Southern Africa is excluded,” the report says, painting a bleak picture of job quality in one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.
The warning comes as Sub-Saharan Africa braces for a population surge, with an estimated 620 million people expected to join the labour force between 2025 and 2050.
The World Bank cautions that the continent’s current growth model is failing to generate enough productive jobs to absorb this wave of new entrants.
“The impending population boom further amplifies the challenge countries in the region face, given their inability to provide jobs for the current population,” the report notes.
Despite modest improvements in economic performance, the report finds that job creation remains detached from GDP growth.
A one-percentage-point increase in GDP now translates to just a 0.04 percentage-point rise in wage employment — a sign that growth is not inclusive enough to lift millions out of poverty.
The World Bank says Africa’s economic structure—where 73 per cent of workers are in own-account or family-run enterprises—limits productivity and social mobility.
“To unlock the continent’s potential, there must be a shift toward a growth model anchored in medium and large firms that can generate productive employment at scale,” the lender advises.
The report identifies several barriers holding back private sector expansion, including poor infrastructure, limited access to finance, skills gaps, and weak institutions.
It calls for coordinated reforms to improve the business environment and support private investment.
On the upside, the Bank projects that Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy will maintain steady growth despite global uncertainty.
The region’s GDP is expected to expand by 3.8 per cent in 2025, up from 3.5 per cent in 2024, and accelerate further to 4.4 per cent in 2026–27.
The outlook marks a 0.3 percentage-point upward revision from April 2025, driven by stronger growth in major economies such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire.
However, the Bank cautions that without a fundamental shift in how economies generate and sustain jobs, the benefits of this growth will remain out of reach for most Africans.
