NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 10 – A growing number of African teenagers are entering the labour market before completing their education, taking up low-paying and informal jobs that risk locking them out of better-paying opportunities later in life, a new report shows.
The inaugural Africa Youth Employment Outlook 2026, launched Tuesday, highlights a worrying shift “from work to study”, where young people aged between 15 and 17 are joining the workforce prematurely, largely in informal agricultural roles.
The report, produced by World Data Lab in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and the University of Cape Town’s Development Policy Research Unit, notes that early exposure to work, often driven by economic necessity, comes at the expense of completing formal education.
This, in turn, undermines long-term prospects in more formal and higher-paying sectors.
The findings come at a time when Africa’s youth population continues to expand, even as other regions face demographic decline.
The continent’s 550 million young people aged between 15 and 35 account for more than 22 percent of the global youth population, positioning Africa as a potential future engine of global labour supply if the right investments are made.
However, the early entry of teenagers into low-skilled jobs could dilute that demographic dividend.
While the report identifies three major shifts shaping Africa’s youth labour market, the first early movement from school into work raises concerns about the quality and sustainability of youth employment.
The second shift, “from agriculture to services”, projects that by 2033 the services sector will employ 3.8 million more young Africans than agriculture for the first time.
Youth jobs in services are also more likely to be formal, at 22 percent, compared to 12 percent in industry and just 3 percent in agriculture.
The third shift, “from rural to urban”, points to rapid urbanisation reshaping employment patterns, with youth jobs increasingly concentrated in cities.
“Africa’s youth population continues to surge, positioning the continent as the world’s future talent engine,” said Hannah Tsadik, Kenya Country Director at the Mastercard Foundation.
“The 2026 Outlook report shows that, to harness this momentum, we must move beyond ‘any work’ to ‘dignified and fulfilling work.’ At the Mastercard Foundation, our mission remains to ensure that as young people in Africa seek opportunities, we enable them by equipping them with the specialised skills to not just fill jobs, but to thrive in an increasingly urbanised and digital landscape,” she added.
World Data Lab CEO and Co-Founder Wolfgang Fengler said the report builds on the Africa Youth Employment Clock, a labour market data model that tracks youth employment trends across the continent.
“This report builds on the Africa Youth Employment Clock, a labour market data model that tracks youth employment trends in Africa, laying an analytical foundation for understanding these trends,” he said.
Beyond the structural shifts, the report also highlights persistent gender disparities, showing that young women remain disproportionately excluded from the labour market compared to young men.
It outlines the socio-economic and structural barriers limiting young women’s participation.
