CASE STUDIES FROM AFRICA

Services in Employment
The labour force in Burkina Faso consists mainly of poor, rural workers and unskilled youth. 13
In fact, most of the population in Burkina Faso works in low income and low productivity
activities. Data on employment in services are scarce and imprecise. The latest available
information on employment in services stopped at 2005 (World Bank) and indicated that
employment in services accounts for 12.2% of total employment, with women representing 42%
of services employment. In 2010, a demographic and health survey made by the National
Institute of Statistics and Demography (INSD) highlighted that respectively 26.6% and 11% of
employed women and men were working in the sales and services sectors in 2010. 14
Table 3: Socio-demographic Characteristics of Workers
Socio-demographic Characteristics Men (%) Women (%)
Manager/technician 4 1.5
Employee 1.9 1
Sales and services 11 26.6
Skilled manual workers 10 8.6
Unskilled manual workers 1 0.3
Household workers – 1.7
Agriculture 65.3 57.3
Others/NSP/missing 6.8 3.1
Source: INSD, EDSBF-MICS IV (2010).
The results of the demographic and health survey were therefore incommensurable with those
from the World Bank with the exception that the INSD has grouped “sales and services”
together as the World Bank does. (1) The INSD data cited here do not even indicate what
percentage of total employment is in services (or “sales and services”). (2) The World Bank
percentage for women (42%) is a percentage of all services employment, whereas the INSD
percentage for women (26.6%) is a percentage of all women employed in all categories
combined. (The women’s column adds up to 100%. The men’s column adds up to 100%. No
relationship can be determined between the INSD figure for men in sales/services (11%) and
women in sales/services (26.6%) without having the raw numbers.)
To conclude, employment in the services sector in Burkina Faso offers better perspectives than
those in the cotton industry where workers are exposed to pesticides and other chemicals, or in
gold mining where children are often used to break rocks, carry heavy loads, and use harmful
chemicals including mercury.
Services in Trade
Today, the inconsistency of classifications used in available statistics on trade in services, and
the lack of information on modes of supply for trade in services make a proper assessment of
trade in services difficult. Gaps exist between what a country’s statistics on trade in services
13
AfDB, OECD, UNDP, UNECA (2012). Perspectives économiques en Afrique, Burkina Faso.
14
INSD (2010). Enquête démographique et de santé et à indicateurs multiples (EDSBF-MICS IV).
214