Becoming a wage earned or a self-employed: Does Young Educational Level determine the Choice of the Working Labour Force Status in Cameroon?

Abstract If employment is recognized as a key driver for growth, development and well-being improvement, human capital is probably a main determinant of the labour force participation. By often analyzing this relationship in wage earning jobs, studies used to leave self-employment untreated despite the fact that its proportion is growing significantly in several countries. This leads us to the following question: does the accumulating human capital determine access to all forms of employment? Focusing on young people, this article analyzes effects of the educational level used as a proxy of the accumulating human capital on the choice of the working labour force status in Cameroon. Using discrete-choice models on data drew from the second Employment and Informal Sector Survey carried out by the National Institute of Statistics, empirical findings reveal that educated young people are more likely to make a decision to work as wage earned and the corresponding probability rises with the increasing of their educational levels. However, the willingness to become self-employed decline with the rising of the educational level. Therefore, compared to the decision to work as a wage earned, becoming a self-employed does not appear as a human capital outcome. This paradoxical result for a low wage economy suggests a reform of educational and training systems starting at least from high school with emphasizes in sectors with a high potential of self-employment development and a setting-up of an apprenticeship plan.