PhD Defence: Michel Armel Ndayikeza

Michel Armel Ndayikeza
Université Clermont Auvergne, CERDI
Université du Burundi

Three Essays on Labor and Education

Examiners

Vianney Dequiedt, Université Clermont Auvergne, Directeur de thèse
Luigi Minale, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Rapporteur
Rémi Bazillier, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Rapporteur
Arcade Ndoricimpa, Université du Burundi, Co-directeur de thèse
Francesca Marchetta, Université Clermont Auvergne, Co-encadrante de thèse
Léonce Ndikumana, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Examinateur
Pascale Phélinas, Université Clermont Auvergne, Examinatrice
Ketki Sheth, University of Tennessee, Examinatrice

Abstract

Africa faces the challenge of generating more and better jobs to keep pace with its rapidly expanding working-age population. This entails tackling the problem of young graduates finding it difficult to secure employment that aligns with their qualifications, along with enhancing education and training systems. This thesis delves into these issues and investigates some potential solutions.
The first chapter starts from the observation that limited prospects for high-skill employment and poverty push numerous college graduates into jobs which do not require a college degree. In order to examine this issue, we conducted a field experiment in Burundi which elicited preferences of employers with respect to low-skill job experience of recent college graduates. We estimate the impact of signaling various types of low-skill experiences, such as working as a phone credit sales agent, a waiter, a security guard and other positions that do not necessitate a college degree, on the hiring interest of employers in a high-skill job. Results indicate employers prefer job seekers with low-skill experience rather than individuals with no experience at all, irrespective of the quality of the job seeker.
The second chapter also speaks to the problem of underemployment. More specifically, it examines the impact of underemployment on primary schooling, using individual level panel data from Ethiopia. The study exploits the variation in children’s exposure to underemployment of adults within their households using an identification strategy that takes into account the staggered nature of the treatment. The study investigates the causal effect of underemployment on school absenteeism as well as out of school activities. The empirical evidence suggests that underemployment reduces the motivation for schooling by increasing the involvement of children in out-of-school activities, namely household agricultural activities, collecting water and firewood, and other activities. These findings contribute to understanding some of the reasons behind the contemporary observation that more children in developing countries are attending school but are learning relatively less.
The final chapter shifts the focus on the problem of under-training by employers in general skills. We explore this phenomenon among agricultural employers in Burundi. We investigate whether employers do not train casual laborers in improved, labor-intensive, agricultural techniques because they do not “appropriate” the returns. First, we provide empirical evidence for appropriability failures by inducing a subset of employers to train workers in some local labor markets (villages) and not others. Second, we show that by increasing the likelihood that the trained worker will work for the training employer in the future, employers’ willingness to train increases by 50 percentage points. Our findings suggest that a sizable wedge between private and social returns to training may impede on-the-job training, with meaningful consequences for worker productivity and output, especially if the education system is weak.                                                                                                   

Keywords