Africa’s real wages fall 0.5% in 2022 in line with global performance – ILO

By Ben Eguzozie

• Asia & Pacific, Central and Western Asia in positive growths

• But AEW sees brighter 2023 and beyond for Africa via its energy sector

Africa, a 1.3 billion people continent, recorded a -0.5 percent real monthly wages decline in 2022, as the entire world saw the first global wages decline in a century, data from the 2022-23 Global Wage Report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has revealed.

The continent, still taking baby steps with consolidating its continental free trade area, the African Continental Free Trade Area –AfCFTA, experienced a minus 0.5 percent real monthly wages decline that was lower than the global average decline of –0.9 percent in 2022.

On a regional comparison, the Asia & Pacific, Central and Western Asia countries performed well, seeing positive real monthly wages growths. For example, the Asia & Pacific region experienced a 0.7 percent marginal growth, while Central and Western Asia recorded a huge 2.5 percent growth. The Arab States came off with 1.7 percent growth.

However, Africa performed a little better than the North American and European Union regions in the real monthly wages decline rates. In North America, real wages declined -3.2 percent, while the European Union recorded a -2.4 percent decline.

For example, in Canada and the United States, average real wage growth fell to zero in 2021 and dropped to minus 3.2 percent in 2022, the second-lowest mark of any region in the study.

The ILO report also indicated that Africa may have fared better than the advanced G20 countries which experienced -2.2 percent in real wages growth in 2022, with USA and Canada among countries most affected by inflation -3.2 percent and -3.4 percent in real wages for the period.

Similarly, Africa’s women, more than men, suffered more job losses, which was the same scenario across the world, according to the ILO data.

Meanwhile, real wages declined to minus 2.4 percent for countries within the European Union in 2022. Real wage growth in Latin America and the Caribbean declined to minus 1.7 percent in 2022.

However, the Africa Energy Week (AEW) rather sees a bright 2023 and beyond for Africa, especially with its oil and gas industry, which it (AEW) said, would breathe new life into many African economies, and will create new opportunities for very many Africans in 2023.

The African Energy Week in a recent report projected that many oil industry players and host nations have outlined some of the most ambitious plans to produce more natural gas, diversify their economies and create more jobs especially for women and their young people.

The energy group said the above plans are a better plan than development aid thrown at Africa.

“As we point out in our released report, The State of African Energy: 2023 Outlook, during African Energy Week, African oil and gas production remains steady — and fairly immune to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, AEW said.