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Francis Teal

University of Oxford, UK, and IZA, Germany

I am very pleased to be able to contribute to this IZA World of labor issue on apprenticeship. Understanding both its benefits and limitations in sub-Saharan Africa is crucial for improving the employment opportunities for young people in Africa

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Research Associate, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford, UK

Research interest

The evolution of firms in Africa, the productivity of agriculture and the links between skills, employment, and incomes in African labor markets

Website

https://www.francisteal.com/

Past positions

Deputy Director, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford (1996–2012); Director of the ESRC funded Global Poverty Research Group (GPRG) (April 2003–July 2007); Senior Research Fellow, Department of Economics, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia (1988–1991)

Qualifications

PhD, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1984

Selected publications

  • Empirical Development Economics. Oxford: Routledge, 2014 (with M. Söderbom, M. Eberhardt, S. Quinn, and A. Zeitlin).

  • Principles of Cost Benefit Analysis for Developing Countries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996 (with C. Dinwiddy).The Two Sector General Equilibrium Model: A New Approach. Oxford: Phillip Allan, 1988 (with C. Dinwiddy).

  • “Technology and productivity in African manufacturing firms.” World Development 64 (2014): 713–725 (with S. Baptist).

  • “No mangos in the tundra: Spatial heterogeneity in agricultural productivity analysis.” Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 75:6 (2013): 914–939 (with M. Eberhardt).

  • “Aggregation versus heterogeneity in cross-country growth empirics.” World Bank Economic Review 27:2 (2013): 229–271 (with M. Eberhardt).

article(s)

  • Are apprenticeships beneficial in sub-Saharan Africa?

    As they do not lead to high-productivity jobs, apprenticeships in sub-Saharan Africa fail to generate high incomes

    Francis Teal, June 2016
    Apprenticeships are the most common form of non-academic training in sub-Saharan Africa. Most apprenticeships are provided by the private sector, for a fee, and lead to self-employment rather than to wage jobs. Where the effects have been measured, they show that earnings are not higher, on average, for people who did an apprenticeship than for those who did not. This presents a conundrum. Why would people pay for apprenticeship training that does not benefit them? Research reveals that apprenticeships do benefit some people more than others. Especially striking is that the returns to apprenticeships can fall with the level of education.
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