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Ivory Coast
Index
For several reasons, it is difficult to compare rural
incomes
with urban incomes. Agricultural workers earned income
predominantly from the production of goods, rather than
from the
sale of labor. Much of this production was not marketed,
and cash
crops that were marketed were sold at prices that were, in
effect,
taxed by the government because of its pricing policies
(see Public Investment
, this ch.). By contrast, urban incomes were
pretax
incomes, and unadjusted comparisons exaggerate the
difference
between the two. In addition, urban workers often
benefited from
supplementary nonmarket sources of income, such as
subsidized
housing, access to credit on favorable terms, and rental
income.
According to Ministry of Planning figures for 1974 (the
most
recent figures available in 1988), the group of workers
whose
salaries fell in the bottom 40 percent in the private
sector
received about 14 of total salary payments; the middle 40
percent
received about 33 percent; and the top 20 percent received
about 53
percent. Figures for workers in the public and parastatal
enterprises (excluding the civil service) were similar:
the group
of workers whose salaries fell in the bottom 40 percent
received 12
percent, the middle 40 percent received 32 percent, and
the top 20
percent received 56 percent. In both sectors, the highest
salaries
were paid to expatriates, and the lowest incomes went to
nonIvoirian Africans. For the civil service, the income
distribution
was considerably more balanced: the lowest 40 percent
received 27
percent of income payments, and the top 20 percent
received 35
percent. Regionally, incomes in the north lagged behind
those in
the south.
Salaries earned by non-Africans ranged from about
twenty times
the average African salary in the primary sector, to ten
times the
average in the secondary sector, to five times the average
in the
tertiary sector. In money terms, non-Africans usually
received two
to three times as much income as Africans in the same job
classification; in addition, expatriates benefited from
generous
housing, travel, and educational allowances.
Since 1932 minimum wage and other worker compensation
standards
have been fixed. The Labor Code of 1952 established
guaranteed
minimum wages and working conditions, and the Advisory
Labor
Committee, composed of an equal number of employers and
workers
chosen by their representative bodies, was set up to
recommend
appropriate standards. The committee based its
recommendations on
the cost of living and the minimum subsistence
requirements of
various segments of the population. The committee then
elaborated
two minimum wage standards: the Guaranteed Minimum
Agricultural
Wage (Salaire Minimum Agricole Garanti--SMAG) and the
Guaranteed
Minimum Interprofessional Wage (Salaire Minimum
Interprofessionel
Garanti--SMIG).
Minimum wages have increased faster for nonagricultural
workers. The SMIG rose from CFA F40 per hour in 1962 to
CFA F58 per
hour in 1970 and increased an additional 58 percent to CFA
F93 per
hour by 1974. In 1982 the SMIG was raised to CFA F191.4
per hour.
By contrast, the SMAG rose only 20 percent to CFA F25 per
hour
between 1970 and 1974. In 1982 the SMAG was CFA F30 per
hour. Most
workers received wages substantially higher than the legal
minimum
based on scales determined by collective bargaining
agreements or,
in the absence of such agreements, by the government.
The government also determined other work rules. In
1988 the
maximum work period was 40 hours a week for
nonagricultural labor
and 2,400 hours a year for agricultural labor. By law, all
employers carried worker's compensation insurance. The
labor code
regulated labor practices, recruitment, contracts, the
employment
of women and children, and general working conditions such
as paid
holidays, sick leave, and medical care. The code also
provided for
collective agreements between employees and trade unions
and for
special courts to settle labor disputes.
As in most developing countries, measuring employment
and
unemployment was difficult because relatively few people
were
employed in the modern or formal economy, in which
enumerating
workers is easier; in the traditional economy, the concept
of
unemployment was almost meaningless. It was also difficult
to
determine the percentage of the population that was active
in the
labor force. In spite of these methodological problems,
the rate of
unemployment in the early 1980s was calculated to be 9
percent,
with the highest rates in the Abidjan area.
By the end of 1987, the national unemployment rate was
estimated to be 11 percent; the rate in urban areas was as
high as
30 percent. The actual number of unemployed persons was
estimated
to be 600,000, although only 86,000 were officially
registered with
the Employment Office of Côte d'Ivoire (Office de la Main
d'Oeuvre
de Côte d'Ivoire--OMOCI). Contributing to the high rates
of
unemployment were a sharp increase in the number of high
school and
university graduates with inappropriate skills, migration
of young
people from rural areas, a continued high rate of
immigration from
neighboring countries, and reduced recruitment levels in
the
public, parastatal, and private sectors. Significantly,
these
problems were becoming more acute because the economically
active
population was growing 4 percent a year and was expected
to reach
7.5 million by 1992.
Data as of November 1988
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