Abstract

Ghana is an example of a developing economy where both output and employment have shifted from agriculture to services and where structural change has not followed the standard pattern observed for many industrialised countries. However, there appears to be a limited understanding of what this changing structure means for poverty reduction and welfare for Ghana, with previous studies focusing mainly on the growth effect of structural change. This article interrogates the welfare effects of cross-sector labour movements in Ghana using the first two waves of the Ghana Socio-economic Panel Surveys. Our results show that labour movements from agriculture to services improve welfare while a move from services to agriculture decreases welfare. We also find that women and younger people are more likely to undertake the welfare-enhancing move, from agriculture to services, than men and older people respectively. On the other hand, we find that men, older people and individuals with relatively high-risk profile are more likely to move from services to agriculture. These findings support the view that structural change in Ghana have played a significant role in Ghana’s poverty reduction achievements in the last three decades.

摘要

加纳是发展中经济体的一个例子，其产出和就业都从农业转向服务业，结构变化没有遵循许多工业化国家所观察到的标准模式。然而，对于这种不断变化的结构对加纳的减贫和福利意味着什么，似乎了解有限，以前的研究主要集中在结构变化的增长效应上。本文使用加纳社会经济小组调查的前两轮调查了加纳跨部门劳工运动的福利影响。我们的结果表明，劳动力从农业转向服务业会提高福利，而从服务业向农业的转移会降低福利。我们还发现女性和年轻人更有可能采取提高福利的举措，从农业到服务业，分别高于男性和老年人。另一方面，我们发现男性、老年人和风险相对较高的个人更有可能从服务业转向农业。这些调查结果支持这样一种观点，即加纳的结构性变化在过去三年中加纳的减贫成就中发挥了重要作用。