Unlocking youth opportunities in the forest sector: The role of green jobs in generating youth employment in Malawi

IF 3.8 2区农林科学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Forest Policy and Economics Pub Date : 2025-09-11 DOI:10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103625

Maggie G. Munthali , Bonface Nankwenya , Zephania Nyirenda , Lemekezani Chilora , Levison Chiwaula , Baxton Chirombo , Wim Troosters

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Green jobs offer significant potential to address high youth unemployment rates in low-income countries. Utilising data from the 2023 Malawi Green Corps Survey, this study employed the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) approach to assess the impact of green jobs on the welfare of youths in Malawi. The study randomly sampled 989 youths (628 project beneficiaries and 361 non-beneficiaries) from 10 districts in Malawi. The findings reveal that the project successfully recruited 2027 youths into green jobs focused on forest, soil and water conservation. Further results indicate that participation in the project positively impacted the youth's income and entrepreneurship development. The estimations indicate an increase in the current income of the youths involved in green jobs by approximately MK108,000. The results also show that the project increased the proportion of youths engaged in businesses by 42 %, further strengthening the connection between green jobs and entrepreneurial development. Results further demonstrated the need for long-term planning of green jobs to have a meaningful impact on poverty reduction. These findings underscore the transformative potential of green jobs in providing decent employment opportunities for youths in Malawi. Consequently, this study recommends that the government and other stakeholders develop strategies and policies to effectively engage youths in the green sectors, ensuring sustainable development and economic resilience.

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释放青年在森林部门的机会：绿色工作在创造马拉维青年就业中的作用

绿色就业为解决低收入国家青年高失业率问题提供了巨大潜力。利用来自2023年马拉维绿色军团调查的数据，本研究采用倾向得分匹配（PSM）方法来评估绿色工作对马拉维青年福利的影响。该研究从马拉维10个地区随机抽取了989名青年（628名项目受益者和361名非受益者）。调查结果显示，该项目成功招募了2027名青年从事以森林、水土保持为重点的绿色工作。进一步的研究结果表明，参与项目对青年的收入和创业发展有积极的影响。这些估计表明，从事绿色工作的青年人目前的收入增加了大约108,000马克。结果还表明，该项目使青年创业比例提高了42%，进一步加强了绿色就业与创业发展之间的联系。结果进一步表明，需要对绿色工作进行长期规划，以对减贫产生有意义的影响。这些发现强调了绿色工作在为马拉维青年提供体面就业机会方面的变革潜力。因此，本研究建议政府和其他利益相关者制定战略和政策，有效地吸引青年参与绿色部门，确保可持续发展和经济弹性。

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来源期刊

Forest Policy and Economics 农林科学-林学

CiteScore

9.00

自引率

7.50%

发文量

148

审稿时长

21.9 weeks

期刊介绍： Forest Policy and Economics is a leading scientific journal that publishes peer-reviewed policy and economics research relating to forests, forested landscapes, forest-related industries, and other forest-relevant land uses. It also welcomes contributions from other social sciences and humanities perspectives that make clear theoretical, conceptual and methodological contributions to the existing state-of-the-art literature on forests and related land use systems. These disciplines include, but are not limited to, sociology, anthropology, human geography, history, jurisprudence, planning, development studies, and psychology research on forests. Forest Policy and Economics is global in scope and publishes multiple article types of high scientific standard. Acceptance for publication is subject to a double-blind peer-review process.