Human capital and productive employment creation: addressing Africa’s skills gap

Abstract

The levels of human capital and skills differ widely between continents and over time. While skills and human capital on the African continent have improved over time, a gap with other continents remains (Penn 2019). Of more concern, the gap in human capital between Africa and the rest of the world has widened slightly over the years. While the fast pace of Asia’s human capital growth has contributed to this growing gap, the fact remains that Africa is behind its peers in other continents and the rest of the world. There is a strong link between a country’s human capital and total factor productivity: increasing a country’s population’s skills capacity also improves the efficiency level of that country’s inhabitants. Furthermore, while there is a large gap in the human capital level between Africa and the rest of the world, human capital levels also differ widely within Africa (Penn, 2019). A large cluster of countries has lower levels of human capital and total factor productivity, with a striking geographic or regional divide. Human capital tends to be higher in Southern African and North African countries.