Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and youth unemployment in Africa

Africa is lagging in infrastructural development including Information and Communication Technology (ICT). As there are rising employment opportunities in the ICT-intensive industries globally including Africa, enhanced knowledge and use of ICT may tend to reduce youth unemployment in Africa. Thus, this study investigates the effect of ICT on youth unemployment in Africa using a sample of 41 African countries between 2003 and 2018. The study employs a dynamic Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) approach and constructs a composite ICT index to combine key indicators of ICT, using the principal component approach. We also account for the interactive role of education in the ICT-youth unemployment nexus. Relying on the Phillip curve theoretical model, the effect of inflation, physical capital accumulation, level of corruption, and economic growth are also examined. The results show that youth unemployment in Africa can be reduced by higher ICT deployment and usage, which confirms our hypothesis in this study. There is also evidence that education enhances the potential of ICT usage to reduce youth unemployment. Furthermore, we find that the Phillip curve hypothesis holds, as the inflation rate has a negative effect on youth unemployment. More so, there is evidence that youth unemployment in Africa can be reduced by higher physical capital accumulation, lower level of corruption, and higher economic growth. With falling economic growth and looming economic recession in many African countries, governments would need to revise educational curricula to include ICT-based training to reduce the level of youth unemployment in the medium to long term period.