African countries are keen to attract more industrial firms to boost growth, jobs and incomes. Ethiopia in particular has been at the forefront to attract industrial investment in the last decade. Using experimental methods, I look at the labour market for low skilled workers. In particular, the study could effectively randomize jobs – and I ask whether industrial jobs improve lives at the moment. The findings resonate with historical evidence but goes against perceived wisdom on industrial job markets, at least at the early stages of industrialization. 

Stefan Dercon is Chief Economist at the Department for International Development, UK Government and Professor of Development Economics at the University of Oxford. He is also a Professorial Fellow at Wolfson College Oxford. In his research, he applies microeconomics and statistics to problems of development. His interests are diverse, including research on risk and poverty, agriculture and rural institutions, political economy, childhood poverty, social and geographic mobility, micro-insurance, and measurement issues related to poverty and vulnerability. Much of his work involves the collection and analysis of longitudinal data sets, and is involved in a number of field experiments related to health insurance in Kenya, and several in Ethiopia including selling drought insurance to funeral groups, raising aspirations in poor rural families and studying the impact of factory jobs on wellbeing. He holds a PhD from Oxford University. Previously, he has held position at UNU-WIDER, Helsinki, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Addis Ababa University.