Industrialisation and Workforce Development in Africa

This book explores the dynamics and challenges of building an industrial workforce and industrialisation in Africa. It highlights the potential for economic growth within the manufacturing sector and how industrialisation can provide employment, build industrial workforce and facilitate labour market opportunities. Government policies and the role of local and regional governments are analysed to examine why certain industrial parks perform better than others. With particular details drawn from Ethiopia’s apparel and textile industry, the historical relationship between capitalist development and the labour force is explored to show tensions between maximising profits and ensuring labour rights and better wages. Building an industrial workforce necessitates effective government policies, firm strategies, industrial ecosystems, and productive dialogue and collective learning between government and firms. Dr Nigisty Gebrechristos is a Research Associate at the Centre of African Studies, SOAS University of London, and the University of Johannesburg. A fascinating account of Ethiopia’s efforts to use industrial parks to anchor its industrialization and export promotion efforts after 2010. Core contributions of the book include its analysis of the ethnic tensions and conflicts that undermined labor retention efforts across both industrial parks and firms, and a focus on how firms collectively and separately coped with the retention constraints. A valuable guide for governments and firms seeking to prioritize more effective workforce development policies in the rapidly evolving industrial landscape of Africa and beyond.' Professor Gary Gereffi, Duke University “Nigisty Gebrechristos has crafted a compelling overview of industrialisation and transformation in Africa – too often regarded as lagging behind. In carving out the history and complex dynamics of industrialisation and utilising Ethiopia as a case study, this book emerges as an important tool for charting a way forward for the continent as it grapples with late-stage industrialisation.” (Tshilidzi Marwala, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Rector of the United Nations University) “This book adds valuable insights for other late industrialisers on workforce development and the low worker retention that had surprised investors and government alike during Ethiopia’s industrialisation drive in the 2010s.” (Stefan Dercon, Professor of Economic Policy, University of Oxford; Former Chief Economist of UK DFID) “A remarkable study based on unrivalled access to sources, steeped in the literature on the economics and sociology of industrialisation and the formation of an industrial workforce, and drawing on the author’s empathetic observation of and interviews with women drawn into Ethiopia’s new industrial parks.” (Christopher Cramer, Professor of Political Economy of Development, SOAS University of London)