The conventional approach to labour force analysis with special reference to education : (an assessment from the 1976 Cameroonian population census)

Abstract

This thesis examines the Cameroonian labour force {with particular reference to education) as assessed during the 1976 Population Census and in light of the conventional labour force approach which was used for collecting the labour force data. Apart from unveiling the unsuitability of the conventional approach in the context of Cameroon, it goes further to examine how, in spite of the suspected defects in the data thus collected, the Cameroonian labour force was distributed according to various characteristics like age, sex, sector or place of residence, status of activity, employment status, etc~ and how these characteristics interacted with education to influence the observed patterns. Furthermore, the role of education in unemployment or underemployment and rural-urban migration is examined. Although education is supposed to be related to.labour force productivity, its individual contribution is largely still uncertain mostly because other factors, besides education, are also important in 1abour productivity and above a 11, problems of measurement compound the issue. Even then, mismatches between education and labour utilization introduce doubts as to whether, in light of the heterogeneity of labo~r and its educational inadaptability to most economic sectors, the matching exercise is a realistic indication of labour under-utilization in Cameroon or in other developing countries. These .considerations lead to a suggested approach in the concluding chapter. This approach seeks to compromise national labour force realities with national planning needs~ In light of this, it restructures the labour force such that pockets of under-utilization in relation to relevant labour characteristics can easily be discernable by the policy maker who reserves the right to determine what under-utilization is or is not.