L’emploi, le chômage et les conditions d’activité dans les principales agglomérations de sept Etats membres de l’UEMOA. Principaux résultats de la phase 1 de l’enquête 1-2-3 de 2001-2002

Given that the chief objective of development policies is to reduce poverty and that work is practically the only source of income for the poor, it is paradoxical that no system has yet been introduced in Africa to monitor the labour market. The labour force survey, the first phase of the 1-2-3 survey, carried out simultaneously in 2001-2002 in the economic capitals of seven WAEMU countries (Abidjan, Bamako, Cotonou, Dakar, Lomé, Niamey, Ouagadougou), aimed to fill this gap. For the first time, it provides a detailed picture of the main characteristics of employment and unemployment in the seven cities, based on surveys using exactly the same methodology and thereby enabling precise comparisons of the different capitals. This study, which presents the principal results of the survey, helps highlight the major structural characteristics of the urban labour markets in the region, and the specific national features. By identifying their main shortcomings (early labour force participation for children, distortion between young people's expectations and real recruitment prospects, discrimination against women, inefficiency of placement services for the unemployed, generalisation of under-employment, the place of the informal sector, etc.), the study opens up new possibilities for defining policies designed to improve the way labour markets work.