Employment and Migration Perspectives in Africa

Abstract

A clear dichotonomy exists between urban and rural areas, but literature shows that links between these areas are an important feature in developing countries. Any index of the application of development points to the hackneyed fact that, whereas urban areas remain centers of employment opportunities, rural areas are still suffering from migrations to the cities. The synergy between these two areas sustains urban-rural linkages. In the urbanizing world (UNCHS, 1996) in which economic reforms, changes in governance and a vibrant civil society are dominant, the nature, scope and implications of urban-rural links deserve to be analyzed from the perspectives of employment and migration which are part of the dynamic calculus of urban-rural linkages. However, since both employment and migration are studied from various disciplinary stances, it is difficult for scholars to form a consensus on the issues, even within a given discipline.