ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors analyze the situation of youth unemployment in West Africa by focusing not only on the overall trends of the phenomenon itself, but also on the internal migration patterns that have exacerbated it, especially since the neoliberal reforms of the mid-1980s. They consider how the geographical features of West Africa, as well as its climate and poor literacy rates, have contributed to this pattern of intraregional migration. The authors suggest a possible relationship in West Africa between youth unemployment and the lack of international mobility. They discuss the ways in which informal labor and the concept of underemployment have affected the growing youth population. Most of the regions in the world have experienced a decline in the rate of youth participation in the labor market. Some flat feet in dire situations, some literally for want of food, try to (re)make a living by emigration or to seek other forms of survival.
