**1. Introduction**

Cited as an example for its economic prosperity and its political stability at the beginning of independence until the end of the 1970s, Côte d'Ivoire experienced from 1980 a succession of events that will slow down its economic growth.

Political instability in the country since the late 1990s, which peaked with the post-election crisis of 2011, continues to leave a legacy, including youth unemployment. The latter has reached disconcerting proportions in a context of widespread poverty.

If the unemployment rate recorded in 2012, in Côte d'Ivoire, according to international criteria is 8.2%, this figure is revised upwards by the Ivorian government that broadens the criteria taking into account the realities of the country. This rate would be close to 25%. The unemployed would then be about 6.5 million people, a figure close to the 7 million announced in 2014 by the ILO (International Labor Office). Despite its predominantly young population and average economic growth of 9% per year since 2012, the labor market is characterized by increased long-term unemployment. Household Living Standards Surveys (ENVs) report an average duration of unemployment of 55 months, 53 months and 46.7 months respectively in 1998, 2002 and 2008. In addition, employment survey reports

[1, 2]<sup>1</sup> note that the unemployed, looking for a job, are respectively 67.8 months and 47.7 months on average, or about 4 years. Almost 76% of the unemployed are longterm unemployed.

Assistance Program (EAP); project to support the economic treatment of unemployment (PATEC); Special Program for the Integration of Women (PSIF). In addition, the priority areas of youth employment in the National Development Plan (PND 12–15, 16–20) show the political will to provide sustainable solutions to youth

*A Gender Analysis of the Determinants of Youth Unemployment in Côte d'Ivoire*

However, these efforts have not been successful. The relatively high unemployment rate in 2012 hides disparities in terms of place of residence, age, sex and level of education. Unemployment is higher in urban areas and affects many more young people (85% of the unemployed) and especially graduates. In Abidjan, the economic capital, for example, the unemployment rate of the labor force was 19.5, while the unemployment rate of 14-–24-year-olds was 9.65% against 12.04% for 25–35 years

Therefore, it seems logical for Côte d'Ivoire that the implementation of appropriate policies in favor of the reduction of unemployment requires a better understanding of the factors likely to influence the occurrence of the phenomenon, particularly with regard to its duration. This work is part of this perspective. It tries to highlight the factors determining the duration of youth unemployment in Côte

Section 2 describes the various works done in this direction. Section 3 presents the methodological approach used. The resulting econometric results and analyzes

Long-term unemployment, or the persistence of unemployment, reflects what economists call the hysteresis effects of unemployment. The study of the length and frequency of unemployment is now central to the analysis of the functioning of the labor market. It is indeed a cross-cutting theme that can be found in different theories of nature. Foremost among these are job search approaches [5–8], matching models, efficiency wages and labor market segmentation approaches [9, 10]. The relevance of this topic mobilizes several researchers to look at a microeconomic level. Many studies have tried to assess the explanatory factors of the phenomenon, for example, by studying the effects of individual characteristics (demographic, socio-economic and seniority unemployed), the economic situation, the rules of unemployment compensation (conditions of access, replacement rates and duration of compensation) and labor flows in the labor market [11], which are the key empirical facts that require a revision of the paradigm Walrassian [12]. This theoretical revision presupposes a rigorous description of the phenomenon and began with the work of Lancaster [13]. Their first estimates were made directly on the duration of unemployment or on the instantaneous rate of out of unemployment by postulating most often a particular specification. This type of study was gradually replaced by a structural approach explicitly modeling individual behaviors and based on "job search" models [14–20]. Most of these studies focused on the United

In France, work on this theme started a little later. A first group of works [21, 22] focused the analysis on the duration of youth unemployment by taking as a frame of reference the job search model. A second group of works [23] then studied, without direct reference to the microeconomic theory, unemployed

As a result of this work, several studies enriching the understanding of the duration of unemployment have developed in developed countries with various

unemployment.

d'Ivoire by gender.

are presented in Section 4.

**2. The teachings of the literature review**

States in view of the availability of data.

seniority.

**199**

(see **Table 1** in the appendix).

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85287*

Long-term unemployment, especially for first-time job seekers, mainly affects young people. In 2012, their unemployment duration was 58.9 months, just under 5 years. According to gender, young women leave unemployment after a period of 5.12 years against 4.16 years for young men. Among first-time claimants, they take 7 months more than young men to find a job. These figures show the lack of job opportunities for young people, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the difficulties young women face in entering the labor market.

Nevertheless, several measures in the fight against unemployment have been implemented. These measures began in 1985 with the implementation of the return to land policy. This failed because of its inconsistency with the theory of development as developed by Harris and Todaro [3]. The surplus of the rural labor force tends to migrate to the cities to feed the industrial labor force, hence the increased unemployment in urban areas.

In 1991, the Hiring Assistance Program was initiated to support young graduates, especially in urban areas, in order to inhibit the effect of previous initiatives. In the same period, the Absorption Program for Out-of-School Young People (PAJD) was launched to provide support to out-of-school youth. Other initiatives have been undertaken whose aim is to fight against unemployment, insecurity, poverty and exclusion by promoting the integration of young people. We can mention among others, the programs conducted by the Youth Employment Agency (AEJ) ex-Agency Study and Promotion of Employment (AGEPE) [2, 4]: the Employment


#### **Table 1.**

*Youth unemployment rate by gender in Côte d'Ivoire (in%).*

<sup>1</sup> ENSETE: Enquête nationale sur la situation de l'emploi et du travail des enfants [2].

#### *A Gender Analysis of the Determinants of Youth Unemployment in Côte d'Ivoire DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85287*

Assistance Program (EAP); project to support the economic treatment of unemployment (PATEC); Special Program for the Integration of Women (PSIF). In addition, the priority areas of youth employment in the National Development Plan (PND 12–15, 16–20) show the political will to provide sustainable solutions to youth unemployment.

However, these efforts have not been successful. The relatively high unemployment rate in 2012 hides disparities in terms of place of residence, age, sex and level of education. Unemployment is higher in urban areas and affects many more young people (85% of the unemployed) and especially graduates. In Abidjan, the economic capital, for example, the unemployment rate of the labor force was 19.5, while the unemployment rate of 14-–24-year-olds was 9.65% against 12.04% for 25–35 years (see **Table 1** in the appendix).

Therefore, it seems logical for Côte d'Ivoire that the implementation of appropriate policies in favor of the reduction of unemployment requires a better understanding of the factors likely to influence the occurrence of the phenomenon, particularly with regard to its duration. This work is part of this perspective. It tries to highlight the factors determining the duration of youth unemployment in Côte d'Ivoire by gender.

Section 2 describes the various works done in this direction. Section 3 presents the methodological approach used. The resulting econometric results and analyzes are presented in Section 4.
