ABSTRACT
The changes in the sizes and structures of labor force as well as patterns and length of working life stemming from the recent demographic and socioeconomic realities in Africa thus necessitate the need for a computation of the length of working life in the continent. This chapter examines the sizes and structures of labor force populations as well as the length of working life for selected African countries, using available census data. It therefore intends to extend the frontier of the use of African censuses in the analysis of African labor force by providing analytical approaches to the structure of the labor force in selected African countries, examining changes in the labor force structure of these countries, and computing African tables of economically active life, or labor force life tables. The last objective becomes especially important within the context of the AIDS pandemic, as well as other demographic and socioeconomic realities in the continent.
