has faltered in recent years. Burkina Faso experienced productivity gains from shift of employment more recently, more slowly. Côte d’Ivoire in turn has yet to unleash significant productivity-enhancing structural change. In contrast to Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, which experienced dynamic gains, albeit very small, Benin has seen a dynamic loss that offset some of the static gains in productivity.

In general, the pattern of structural change observed in BBC stands at variance with the Asian experience. In Asia, dynamic structural change has been the norm rather than the exception and dynamic losses were hardly observed. In contrast, productivity-enhancing structural change that shifts workers from low-productivity agriculture and informal services to dynamic high-productivity growth activities is yet to be unleashed in BBC. To place these results in context, we performed similar analysis for the Asian and African benchmark countries. Figure 8 summarizes the key findings. Three periods are considered to ensure meaningful comparisons: 1960-1975, 1975-1990, and 1990-2010. For the SSA countries, the analysis focuses on the period 1990-2010.

We first note that within-sector productivity gains and structural change have been the main drivers of economic growth in Asia. At its peak, structural change accounted for about 35 percent of growth in Korea (1975-1990), 28 percent in China (1975-1990), and 31 percent in Indonesia (1990-2010). Thailand experienced a particularly phenomenal magnitude of structural change, accounting for about 60 percent of growth. Malaysia represents an anomaly and is the only Asian country in our sample that experienced growth-reducing structural change in 1975-1990, although this was reversed in 19902010.<sup>34</sup> We also note that the strong “within” productivity growth in Asia has been mostly due to pronounced productivity gains in manufacturing industries, particularly during their high-growth periods, and, to a lesser extent, agriculture. Service activities, and in particular commerce, also registered noticeable productive growth in the Asian economies, particularly in Indonesia (during 1990-2010) and Thailand (1975-1990). As opposed to this, the two largest sectors in BBC, namely agriculture and commerce, reported low within productivity gains.

**<u>Table 9. Demographic trends: BBC and Selected Asian and SSA economies</u>**

||Popu<br>|lation gr<br>|owth<br>|Workin<br>(% to<br>|g-age pop<br>tal popula<br>|ulation<br>tion)<br>|Urba<br>(% tota<br>|n employ<br>l emplo<br>|ment<br>yment)<br>|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||1975|1990|2010|1975|1990|2010|1975|1990|2010|
|**_Asia_**||||||||||
|China|1.8|1.5|0.5|55.9|65.8|74.3|22.8|39.9|63.3|
|Indonesia|2.5|1.8|1.3|54.0|59.8|66.2|27.4|33.3|45.3|
|Korea, Rep.|2.0|1.5|0.5|58.4|69.4|72.7|55.5|81.3|93.1|
|Malaysia|2.3|2.8|1.6|54.1|59.3|67.7|54.3|72.4|86.4|
|Thailand|2.6|1.4|0.2|54.0|65.3|71.9|27.0|33.9|61.7|
|**_Africa_**<br>||||||||||
|Benin<sup>*</sup><br>|2.4|3.4|2.9|51.9|50.7|53.7|40.6|55.0|57.9|
|Burkina Faso<sup>‡</sup><br>|1.9|2.7|3.0|52.8|49.5|51.2|11.9|15.7|20.8|
|Côte d’Ivoire<sup>ǂ</sup>|4.6|3.5|2.2|52.6|52.5|53.4|37.2|39.7|47.5|
|Ethiopia|2.2|3.4|2.6|52.3|50.6|52.3|9.1|11.0|24.9|
|Ghana|2.3|2.7|2.5|51.4|53.4|57.4|46.1|46.3|58.4|
|Senegal|2.8|3.1|2.9|52.6|49.9|53.2|28.7|34.1|48.6|
|Tanzania|3.2|3.17|3.17|51.0|51.3|51.8|10.9|13.8|28.3|

_Note_ : *The data on the share of urban employment for Benin correspond to the periods 2006, 2010, and 2015.<sup>‡</sup> The data on the share of urban employment for Burkina Faso are for the periods 1998, 2005, and 2014.<sup>ǂ</sup> The data on the share of urban employment for Côte d’Ivoire are for the periods 2002, 2008, and 2014. _Source_ : Author’s computation based on data described in Section 2.

> 34However, for some of the countries, there was a limited role for structural change since the 1990s, which likely reflects the purported disappearance of inter-sectoral productivity gaps over the course of development. Although many of the Asian economies have experienced considerable structural change, with labor moving from manufacturing to service industries, this on its own has made little contribution to productivity growth. Overall productivity performance in these countries largely depends on how productivity fares in each individual sector.

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