Impact of Digital Technology Adoption on Employment in Senegal
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Date
2022-09
Authors
Malick Diallo, Thierno
Dumas, TSAMBOU André
Fomba Kamga Benjamin, Fomba Kamga
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Abstract
The future of developing countries lies primarily in the intensity of their uptake of
digital technologies. Although these new technologies have disrupted the existence
of old ones with a possible impact on productivity, employment, and competitiveness
in different sectors of activity, there has been little empirical research on this possible
impact. The present study aims to fill this gap by examining the impact of digital
technology adoption on labour market outcomes, and on employment dynamics
in the manufacturing and service sectors in Senegal. Firstly, in order to assess the
effect of digital technologies on young people's awareness of public employment
programmes and their access to employment, the study applied the propensity score
matching method to data obtained from a survey labelled “Improving Employment
Policies” (Améliorer les Politiques d’Emploi, EAPE), which was conducted in 2018
among 2,746 individuals in Senegal. Secondly, in order to measure the effect of digital
technology adoption on employment dynamics in the manufacturing and service
sectors, the study applied the instrumental variables method to data obtained from
a survey called “Determinants of the Performance of Firms in Francophone Sub Saharan Africa: the Case of Senegal” (Déterminants de la Performance des Entreprises
en Afrique Subsaharienne Francophone: Cas du Sénégal), which was conducted
in 2014 among 723 firms. The relevance of the present study lies in the fact that it
will provide policy makers with guidance on the measures they should take to help
young people entering the labour, and private-sector firms with guidance on how to
make the most of digital technology diffusion in Senegal. By way of results, the study
found that digital technology adoption helped the unemployed youth to participate
in solidarity-contract programmes and to continue their active job search efforts,
although it did not reduce the duration of their unemployment. It also found that
digital technology adoption by Senegalese firms had a positive and significant impact
on both the number of people they employed and the number of both their highly
skilled and less skilled employees. Specifically, by adopting digital technologies, a
firm increased the number of its highly skilled employees by 2.12% and that of its less
skilled ones by 2.64%. This corresponds to a 0.52% greater impact for the less skilled
employees than for the highly skilled ones.
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Keywords
: Digital technologies; employment; Senegal.