Labor Markets in Swaziland - the Challenge of Youth Employment

Utilizing the 2007 and 2010 labor force surveys, this paper documents that very high youth unemployment is a key feature of the Swaziland labor market and analyzes policy options that could help address this challenge. First, the paper characterizes the Swazi labor market and its youth segment with descriptive statistics. Second, it identifies determinants of the labor market position of different types of the young population through a multinomial logit model. Third, drawing on a search model, the paper analyzes impacts of active labor market policies at different segments of the population. While active labor market policies such as training or job search assistance for people leaving the public sector may speed up transition to the private sector, they would exacerbate inequalities. Besides improving the business environment, Swaziland needs to develop employment and entrepreneurship policies to integrate its youth into the labor market.