Impact of information and communication technologies and employment in the services sector: The case of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

Abstract

The rise of information and communication technologies is nowadays a channel for job creation in the services sector in ECOWAS because they make work more efficient and are a source of innovation. In this article, we analyse the impact of information and communication technologies on employment in the services sector in ECOWAS. In contrast to their ambiguous impact on employment in countries with a fairly high ICT penetration rate, we rather expect the internet to have a potentially positive impact on employment in the ECOWAS services sector. The results of our estimations confirm our predictions and show that the number of internet users positively and significantly affects employment in the service sub-sectors of education, health, distribution, transport & communication and finance & insurance. Furthermore, most of the control variables strengthen our predictions in terms of employment impact.

Keywords: Impact, Information and communication technologies, employment, ECOWAS, services.