African countries need to step up their productive use of digital technologies to boost job creation according to a new World Bank report.
By 2100, the black continent is expected to become the world’s largest employment market. Every year, more than 22 million Africans enter the labour market, according to the World Bank (WB). To absorb all this mass, States must massively resort to digital tools to create jobs and stimulate growth, underlines the monetary institution in a new report released on Monday.
Entitled Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Employment, the document notes that of all the regions in the world, sub-Saharan Africa is the one where there is the greatest gap between the availability of digital infrastructure and the actual use that people make of it.
On average, the report noted, 84% of the population in a given country in the region could at least access 3G mobile internet and 63% had some level of 4G mobile services by the end of 2021, but only 22% were using them, according to data on unique subscribers collected by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA).
According to the WB, usage rates range from 6% in South Sudan to 53% in South Africa, highlighting the heterogeneity of average usage and the need for differentiated reforms across countries.
“The very limited use of mobile internet is a missed opportunity for inclusive growth in Africa. Closing this gap would strengthen the continent’s potential to create jobs for its growing population and drive economic recovery in a highly digitalised world,” said the WB’s chief economist for Africa, Andrew Dabalen.
The report notes that technology and innovation are drivers of sustainable economic growth and much needed modernisation of economic activities in agriculture, manufacturing and services.
Yet, the research points out, the digital divide continues to widen between large formal enterprises and informal microenterprises, between those owned by young men and those run by older women, and between wealthier, urban and educated households and poorer, rural and less educated families.
Only 2% of microenterprises owned by young women and 8% of those owned by young men use a computer, the paper continues.
“To ensure that the availability of the internet translates into productive use and job growth, the region needs affordable access, skills and digital technologies that meet the needs of Africans,” says Christine Zhenwei Qiang, Global Director for Digital Development at the World Bank.
Continued sector reforms and targeted public investments that support the foundations of the digital economy and the adoption of these technologies can help bridge the digital divide and unleash the enormous potential to create more and better jobs for a growing population, she says.
For the 40% of Africans who live below the global extreme poverty line, the cost of basic mobile packages is often out of reach, says the WB. Small and medium-sized African businesses are also penalised by more expensive data plans than they are for businesses in other regions. To bring down bills, governments should work to promote competition in the provision of digital infrastructure and reduce operating costs, it advises.
To stimulate productive use, governments should implement policies that support the development of more attractive digital solutions tailored to people’s skills and productive needs, while increasing awareness and education, the monetary institution suggests.
Policies that encourage innovation and support digital start-ups are key to ensuring that more Africans use the internet for work and learning, leading to higher living standards, it says.
According to the authors of the research, as digital technologies become more responsive to the needs of individuals, households and businesses, demand will increase, further enhancing the commercial viability of internet expansion, creating a virtuous cycle of transformation.
ARD/ac/lb/abj/APA