Off-farm income and labor markets in rural Ethiopia. Fantu Bachewe, Guush Berhane, Bart Minten, and Alemayehu S. TaffesseIFPRI/EDRI.2019

Conclusions:

1/ Low wages have been an asset for the attraction of labor-intensive

industries. That might be changing and Ethiopia might lose that edge.

Ensure that the youth will upgrade skills towards higher labor

productivity

2/ Push for the adoption of labor-saving technologies; important that

Ethiopia implements pro-actively policies that allow appropriate

technologies at low costs

3/ Ensure flexible labor markets so that people can benefit from these

opportunities