ABSTRACT

Persistent gender gaps characterise labour markets in many African countries. Utilising Eswatini’s first three labour market surveys (conducted in 2007, 2010, and 2013), this paper provides first systematic evidence on the country’s gender gaps in employment and earnings. We find that women have notably lower employment rates and earnings than men, even though the global financial crisis had a less negative impact on women than it had on men. Both unadjusted and unexplained gender earnings gaps are higher in self-employment than in wage employment. Tertiary education and urban location account for a large part of the gender earnings gap and mitigate high female propensity to self-employment. Our findings suggest that policies supporting female higher education and rural-urban mobility could reduce persistent inequalities in Eswatini’s labour market outcomes as well as in other middle-income countries in southern Africa.

摘要

持续存在的性别差距是许多非洲国家劳动力市场的特征。本文利用Eswatini的前三项劳动力市场调查（分别于2007年，2010年和2013年进行），为该国在就业和收入方面的性别差距提供了第一个系统的证据。我们发现，尽管全球金融危机对妇女的负面影响比对男性的负面影响要小，但妇女的就业率和收入显着低于男性。自雇者的未经调整和无法解释的性别收入差距均高于有薪就业。高等教育和城市地理位置在性别收入差距中占很大比例，并减轻了女性自谋职业的高倾向。