suggests positive correlation between the direction of labor flows and (end-of-period) labor productivity in individual sectors. The relative size of each sector (measured by employment share) is indicated by the circles in the scatter plots. According to the traditional path of structural change and for BBC’s income level, one expects agriculture to fall in the bottom-left quadrant (low productivity and declining labor share) and the relatively more dynamic sectors in the top-right quadrant (relatively high labor productivity and a rising labor share). In all three cases, there are some signs that structural change was growth-enhancing, although to a smaller extent in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire. The sector with the lowest labor productivity, namely agriculture, experienced the largest relative loss in employment. In Burkina Faso, the relative sizes of the non-agricultural sectors are still small, indicating the presence of sizable room for productivity-enhancing structural change.

Low-productivity activities largely absorbed the labor displaced from agriculture, suggesting a limited role for growth-enhancing structural change. For Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, commerce is located in the bottom-right quadrant, indicating that the drastic expansion in the employment share of this sector was ensued by a rapid decline in the already low level of productivity. Commerce features a high level of informality and is the second least productive sector. ‘Other services’ is another rapidly expanding sector, which was again a relatively unproductive non-tradable sector. We see that the slope for Benin and Côte d’Ivoire is much flatter than that for Burkina Faso, suggesting a very small growth-enhancing role for structural change in these two economies. To be sure, the employment shift away from agriculture led to an improvement in agricultural as well as aggregate labor productivity; however, the impact would have been stronger if labor had relocated to more productive sectors.

**<u>Table 1. Labor productivity (LP) in selected Asian and African economies</u>**

||Economy-<br>wide<br>LP<sup>*</sup>|Coef. of<br>variation<br>of LP|Sect<br>hig<br>produ|or with<br>hest<br>ctivity<sup>*</sup>|Sector<br>Low<br>produc|with<br>est<br>tivity<sup>*</sup>|Compound<br>annual<br>growth of|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||Sector|LP|Sector|LP|economy-<br>wide LP<sup>**</sup>|
|**_Asia_**||||||||
|Korea, Rep.|48477.8|0.053|PU|372158|Agri|20083|7.6%|
|Malaysia|37367.2|0.107|Min|872603|Con|13793|6.9%|
|Thailand|16277.7|0.113|Min|533843|Agri|5401|6.8%|
|China|14463.8|0.093|Fin|97604|Agri|4209|15.5%|
|Indonesia<br>**_Africa_**|3419.9|0.069|Min|90830|Agri|980|7.9%|
|Botswana|50703.8|0.121|Min|718869|Agri|4409|11.3%|
|Ghana|11068.0|0.081|PU|42264|Trade|5709|24.7|
|Senegal|4877.0|0.173|PU|367608|Agri|1726|4.4%|
|Benin|3921.9|0.112|Fin|50022|Trade|1769|4.5%|
|Ethiopia|3781.5|0.126|PU|52034|Agri|2417|10.8%|
|Tanzania|3570.2|0.100|Con|24194|Agri|1498|14.8%|
|Côte d’Ivoire|<br>3379.6|0.227|Min|9164|Agri|68.2|1.4%|
|Burkina Faso|2894.5|0.204|Min|2249|Agri|35.8|6.7%|

_Note_ : All numbers are for 2010 unless otherwise stated. *2000 PPP $. All numbers are for 2005. ‘ _Agri_ ’ stands for Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing; ‘ _Min_ ’ for Mining and quarrying; ‘ _Man_ ’ for Manufacturing; ‘PU’ for Public utilities (electricity, gas and water); ‘ _Con_ ’ for Construction; ‘ _Trade_ ’ Wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants; ‘ _Tran_ ’ for Transport, storage and communications; and ‘ _Fin_ ’ for Finance, insurance, real estate and business services.<sup>*</sup> Compound annual growth rate of economywide productivity (1990-2010). _Source_ : Author’s computation based on data described in Section 2.

Finally, we benchmark the pattern of structural change in BBC against those in the Asian and SSA countries. Table 1 shows economy-wide and sectoral (highest and lowest) labor productivity levels and country-specific productivity growth. Average labor productivity ranges from $2,895 (at 2005 PPP dollars) for Burkina Faso to $48,478 for Korea. China has the fastest productivity growth, while the lowest productivity growth corresponds to Côte d’Ivoire. Similarly, Benin and Burkina Faso are located at lower rungs of productivity growth. In most countries, agriculture has the lowest 9