Does Digital Financial Inclusion Matter for Agricultural Jobs Generation in the Post-Pandemic Era in SSA Countries?

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Armand Fréjuis Akpa This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4182429/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Job generation remains a main challenge for African countries that face an increase in the labour force population. The agriculture sector remains the major provider of employment in Africa. This sector is faced with several problems such as access to credit, which is limited due to the population's low financial inclusion. The recent COVID 19 pandemic had consequences not only on financial services but also on jobs. The rapid development of information communication and technology (ICT) constitutes a way to include underserved people in financial services through digital platforms to increase their access to credit and in turn generate jobs. This paper was undertaken in this context to assess the digital financial inclusion (DFI) influence on agricultural job generation in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations. Using a sample of 26 SSA nations over the period 2014-2021 and the general method of moments in the system (SGMM) on panel data, the estimation results show that digital access and digital use promote employment in agriculture. Similarly, the DFI improves employment in agriculture, allowing us to confirm that DFI is a factor that promotes employment in agriculture in SSA nations. However, the study suggests that to reduce unemployment in SSA nations, governments and policymakers must take action to include individuals in financial services through the development and use of digital platforms. JEL Codes : G20 – O16 – O30 – J21 Digital financial inclusion access to credit employment in agriculture Figures Figure 1 1. Introduction The extant economic literature showcases the extended past of studies on the association between financial development and job generation (Geng and He 2021 ). Wells and McKinnon ( 1973 ) and Shaw ( 1973 ) penned about the financial deepening theory and claimed that financial liberalisation and financial deepening have effects on income, saving and employment, which could be raised. The link between financial development and employment is regularly examined from macro and micro views. Ploeg ( 1986 ) trusted that monetary financing is successful at increasing investment, which increases the employment scope. Neimke et al. ( 2002 ) stated that financial development first drives economic development and then indirectly promotes employment. Levine’s ( 1997 ) research preceded Neimke’s, finding that financial development has a mediating effect through economic growth and then drives employment. Masten et al. ( 2008 ) wrote that financial development and employment have a relationship of opposites, in which the positive effect of employment in developing countries is significant whereas in developed economies it is weak. The rapid expansion of ICT has reformed the financial industry landscape with digital technologies, and financial services can be relinquished in further efficient and less expensive pathways (Chinoda and Kapingura 2023 ; Niu et al. 2022 ; Geng and He 2021 ). For instance, rather than establishing physical branches like bank outlets, financial institutions can extend a diverse array of digital services to a wide customer base accessible through computers, smartphones, and other electronic devices (Niu et al. 2022 ; Chinoda and Kapingura 2023 ). The ICT’s integration with finance holds the potential to enhance financial inclusion by inviting more individuals, especially those traditionally underserved, into the contemporary financial system (Niu et al. 2022 ; Liu et al. 2021 ). Previous research has demonstrated that improved financial inclusion yields favourable outcomes at the individual, enterprise, and societal levels (Demirgüç-Kunt and Singer 2017 ; Kabakova and Plaksenkov 2018 ). According to Geng and He ( 2021 ), DFI represents a novel frontier in financial development, breaking geographical constraints in traditional financial inclusion and lowering financing costs for small firms by empowering them online and leveraging big data technology. As asserted by Liu et al. ( 2021 ), DFI serves as a digital strategy that fosters information sharing, effectively reduces transaction costs and service thresholds, and broadens the reach of financial services through the application of internet technology, encompassing computer information processing, data communication, extensive data analysis, cloud computing, and a range of related technologies within the financial sector. In the extant literature, DFI’s effect is linked with many other variables. For example, Chinoda and Kapingura ( 2023 ), Ahmad et al. ( 2021 ), Shen et al. ( 2021 ), Khera et al. ( 2021 ) and Myovella et al. ( 2020 ) associated DFI with economic growth and found that it is favourable to economic growth, however, Chinoda and Kapingura ( 2023 ) showed that institution and governance quality plays a key role. Similarly, Yu et al. ( 2022 ) and Yang et al. ( 2022 ) showed that DFI lowers carbon emissions while other studies (Huang et al. 2022 ; Lee et al. 2022 ; Wang et al. 2022 ; Zhang and Liu 2022 ) found controversial outcomes with studies showing positive and U-shaped effect. Khan et al. ( 2023 ) and Ozturk and Ullah ( 2022 ) found that DFI increases carbon emissions. Xu and Wang ( 2023 ) analysed the DFI’s effect on the level of agricultural output and found positive effect with a double threshold for the DFI’s effect. According to Geng and He ( 2021 ), the impact of DFI on sustainable employment is found to be statistically insignificant in lower-middle-income economies. However, in upper-middle-income and high-income economies, the effect is notably significant, particularly in the former category. The plausible explanation found by the authors is that upper-middle-income nations have greater investment revenues caused by advanced technology and greater operating efficiency than lower-middle-income nations. Through additional analysis, the authors demonstrated a distinctive threshold effect of DFI, revealing a positive impact on sustainable employment in upper-middle-income economies. But the link between DFI and agricultural jobs generation is under-considered in the extant literature. This paper was undertaken to fill this gap and investigate the DFI’s effect on agricultural jobs generation in SSA. DFI can help to improve financial development by delivering to financial services, digital access, in particular to financially underserved groups of people at reduced cost (Zhang et al. 2019 ) and offering digital paths of capital formation, savings, and investment occasions for jobs (Ozili 2018 ). Several reasons motivated the choice of Sub-Saharan Africa for analysing the effect of digital financial inclusion on agricultural job generation in SSA. The first reason is the low use of digital financial services. For example, in 2021, according to Global Findex statistics in 2022, the percentage of the population aged 15 years and above who used a debit card was 11% while those who used a mobile phone or the internet to pay bills was 17% in 2021%. Internet low-rate penetration is another reason which explains digital financial services' under use. Digital financial service use is estimated at 35.86% in 2021 (World Bank 2023 ) and its costs are too expensive (Akpa & Asongu, 2023 ; Akpa et al., 2024 ). The last reason is that in Africa, more than one in four young people; about 72 million are not in employment, education, or training with two-thirds of them who are young women (ILOSTAT 2023 ). We choose the agriculture sector because it is the sector, which provides more jobs than the other sectors. According to the World Bank ( 2023 ), the percentage of employment in agriculture in SSA nations is 51.57%, which is higher than this in industry (11.75%) and in services (36.68%). This study offers insightful policy recommendations to financial services sectors by showing that, DFI’s promotion is useful to face later, another crisis such as COVID-19 and to continue to generate jobs. Indeed, our paper is supported by Anser et al. ( 2021 ) who find that infected COVID-19 cases are the major factors that hinder financial activities and reduce money supply. DFI can reduce distance between customers and financial institutions by delivering to individuals financial services through digital platforms because the COVID-19 crisis has imposed barrier measures such as distance. The rest of this paper is structured into four sections. Section two delivers the methodology while the third one presents and discusses the econometric outcome and finally in the fourth section we conclude before giving policy implications. 2. Methodology 2.1. Conceptual framework In recent decades, the concept of Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) has garnered considerable attention from both researchers and policymakers (Chinoda and Kapingura 2023 ; Ahmad et al. 2021 ; Yu et al. 2022 ; Yang et al. 2022 ; Ozili 2018 ). Chinoda and Kapingura ( 2023 ) perceive DFI as a transformative force capable of bringing about revolutionary developments in the global financial sector. In essence, digital financial inclusion refers to the proportion of individuals and businesses that access and utilize formal financial services through digital platforms (Chinoda and Kapingura 2023 ). The advent of digitalization has brought about significant changes in financial systems across both developing and developed countries (Wysokinska 2021 ; Chinoda and Kapingura 2023 ). Barriers in traditional financial systems are consistently diminishing (Kooli et al. 2022 ), leading to a rise in financial inclusion, a factor recognized as a crucial facilitator in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (Allen et al. 2016 ). In the above figure, we conceptualise the mechanism through which DFI enhances agricultural job generation in SSA nations (see Figure). Indeed, one of the biggest challenges for governments and policymakers is the resolution of unemployment problems they are facing. DFI concept is divided into digital access measured by the percentage population with access to the internet and mobile subscription per 100 people and digital usage measured by the number of registered mobile money agents per 100,000 adults and the number of active mobile money accounts per 1000 adults. When individuals are digitally financially included, this will increase their access to credit and in turn will increase their investment in income generating activities such as agricultural jobs which are the most job providers in SSA nations. Investment in agriculture will allow them not only to drop out of unemployment but also to remove other young by engaging them in their activities and so, to reduce the unemployment problem of young people. 2.2. Model specification This study aligns with recent literature employing the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) as the chosen estimation strategy, influenced by four key considerations (Asongu and Nwachukwu 2016a ; Tchamyou 2019a , b ; Asongu and Odhiambo 2020 ). Firstly, the number of cross-sections significantly surpasses the corresponding number of periods within each cross-section, denoted as N (or 26 countries) > T (2014–2021 or 8 years). Secondly, the persistence of the dependent variable (employment in agriculture) is evident, as the correlations between their current levels and first lag values exceed 0.800 (see estimation Table 3 ), a commonly accepted threshold for establishing persistence in a variable (Tchamyou 2019b ; Asongu and Odhiambo 2020 ). Thirdly, the estimation processes in this study account for cross-country variations in light of the panel data structure. Fourthly, the study addresses the endogeneity issue by incorporating controls for unobserved heterogeneity related to time-invariant omitted variables. Moreover, reverse causality or simultaneity concerns are mitigated through an instrumental variable approach. The GMM technique employed in this study is based on the Arellano and Bover ( 1995 ) framework, enhanced by Roodman ( 2009a b ,), a refinement documented in existing literature for its effectiveness in reducing the proliferation of instruments (Asongu and Nwachukwu 2016b ; Boateng et al. 2018 ; Asongu and Odhiambo 2020 ). The subsequent equations in both level (1) and first difference (2) encapsulate the standard procedure for system GMM estimation. Where \({EA}_{i,t}\) is employment in agriculture of country \(i\) in period \(t\) , \({DFI}_{it}\) is digital financial inclusion, \(X\) represents a vector of control variables (economic growth, inflation and trade openness), \(\tau\) represents the coefficient of auto-regression which is one within the framework of this study because a year lag is enough to capture past information, \({\zeta }_{t}\) is the time-specific constant, \({\eta }_{i}\) is the country-specific effect and \({\epsilon }_{i,t}\) the error term. These variables have been frequently used in the literature (Kassouri 2024 ; Chinoda and Kapingura 2023 ; Xu and Wang 2023 ; Arestis et al. 2023 ; Geng and He 2021 ; N’Guessan 2018 ). All the independent variables and the pertinent theory justifying how they influence human capital are clarified in turn as: Digital financial inclusion . DFI is the use of financial services through the application of Internet technology, encompassing computer information processing, data communication, extensive data analysis, cloud computing, and a range of related technologies within the financial sector and can lead to agricultural jobs generation (Xu and Wang 2023 ; Geng and He 2021 ). Economic growth . Economic growth refers to the increase in the production and consumption of goods and services in an economy over time. Positive economic growth signifies an expansion of an economy's productive capacity and is often associated with improvements in living standards, employment opportunities, and a higher overall standard of living for the population. On the other hand, negative economic growth, also known as economic contraction or recession, indicates a decline in economic activity, leading to potential negative consequences such as unemployment and reduced income. Thus, economic growth can lead to the improvement of agricultural job generation (Arestis et al. 2023 ). I nflation . Inflation, which is a generalized increase in the price level, can lead to a reduction in agricultural jobs generation because a price rise reduces the demand for goods and services, this in turn reduces goods and services offered by enterprises and so jobs are decreased (N’Guessan 2018 ; Kassouri 2024 ). Trade openness . Trade openness refers to the degree to which a country participates in international trade and the extent to which its economy is open to foreign trade and investment. High trade openness can expose a country to global economic fluctuations and may pose challenges related to trade imbalances, dependency on external markets, and vulnerability to international economic conditions and can also lead to agricultural jobs generation reduction (Arestis et al. 2023 ) To gauge digital financial inclusion, four indicators are utilized. These dimensions encompass: (1) the percentage of the population with access to the internet, (2) mobile subscriptions per 100 people, (3) the number of registered mobile money agents per 100,000 adults, and (4) the number of active mobile money accounts per 1000 adults. To calculate the sub-indexes (digital access: percentage of the population with access to the internet and mobile subscriptions per 100 people, and digital usage: the number of registered mobile money agents per 100,000 adults and the number of active mobile money accounts per 1000 adults) constituting the digital financial inclusion index, we employ principal component analysis. The method applied for retaining common factors adheres to the Kaiser ( 1974 ) and Jolliffe ( 2002 ) criterion for selecting principal components in principal component analysis. According to this criterion, only principal components with eigenvalues greater than the mean are retained (Asongu et al. 2019 ; Asongu and Odhiambo 2020 ). As noted by Asongu and Odhiambo ( 2020 ), this criterion is adopted for retaining composite digital financial inclusion indicators in this study. 2.3. Data and sources This study employs annual data covering the period 2014 to 2021 for 26 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, sourced from various outlets such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Financial Access Survey (FAS), World Development Indicator (WDI), and International Labour Organization. Table 1 provides a summary of variable statistics, with standard deviations indicating relatively small dispersions around the mean values. The measurement of agricultural job generation is based on the percentage of total employment in agriculture, obtained from the International Labour Organization. On average, employment in agriculture is 46.235%, ranging from 12.406–77.231%, indicating disparities among SSA nations. Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) is defined as the percentage of individuals and companies accessing financial services via digital platforms. The mean DFI value is 0.318, ranging from 4.91e-08 to 1. Its sub-indexes, digital access and digital usage, have mean values of 0.374 and 0.208, with ranges from 4.10e-08 to 1 and 6.07e-08 to 1, respectively. This highlights heterogeneity among SSA countries in terms of DFI, digital access, and digital usage. Economic growth, inflation, and trade openness data are sourced from the WDI. Economic growth, measured by annual growth in gross domestic product per capita as a percentage, averages 0.728% from 2014 to 2021, with values ranging from − 12.889–9.562%, indicating annual instability and wealth disparities among SSA nations. Inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (2010 = 100), averages 12.676, with values ranging from − 3.233 to 557.202. Trade openness, represented as the sum of imports and exports as a percentage of GDP, stands at 0.518 for the selected countries, with values ranging from 0.095 to 1.238. The study reveals a negative association between employment in agriculture and digital financial inclusion (-0.669), digital access (0.158), digital usage (0.489), and trade openness (0.486) (see Appendix 2). This implies that an increase in digital financial inclusion, digital access, digital usage, and trade openness corresponds to a decrease in agricultural employment. Conversely, a positive correlation exists between employment in agriculture and economic growth (0.120) and inflation (0.058), indicating that an increase in economic growth and inflation leads to a rise in agricultural employment. Table 1 Summary statistics of variables Variables Obs. Mean Std. Dev. Min Max Employment in agriculture 208 46.235 18.890 12.406 77.231 Digital access 198 0.374 0.220 4.10e-08 1 Digital usage 159 0.208 0.172 6.07e-08 1 Digital financial inclusion 151 0.318 0.191 4.91e-08 1 Economic growth 208 0.728 3.613 -12.889 9.562 Inflation 197 12.676 51.986 -3.233 557.202 Trade openness 201 0.518 0.230 0.095 1.238 Source: Authors’ computation. 3. Results and discussion Table 3 presents the results of estimating the impact of Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) on employment in agriculture using the System GMM (SGMM) technique. The diagnostic tests indicate the overall significance of the model, as the probability from the Fisher test is less than 1%. Additionally, the results reveal the presence of first-order autocorrelation (AR (1)) and the absence of AR (2) effects, aligning with the formulated hypotheses. Furthermore, the Sargan and Hansen tests validate the selection of instruments for all three estimates. The coefficients for the lagged values of employment in agriculture are consistently positive across all estimated specifications. This suggests that employment in agriculture exhibits a self-sustaining nature, wherein its past values positively influence its current values, reflecting the persistence of the variable. Table 3 Effect of DFI on Agricultural Jobs Generation using SGMM Variables Dependent: Employment in agriculture (1) (2) (3) Employment in agriculture (-1) 1.142*** [0.069] 0.996*** [0.025] 1.019*** [0.024] Digital access 1.867** [0.788] Digital usage 0.403*** [0.151] Digital financial inclusion 2.602*** [0.923] Per capita income -0.228*** [0.067] -0.111*** [0.030] -0.146*** [0.039] Inflation -0.005*** [0.001] -0.004 [0.003] -0.006** [0.003] Trade openness -2.446 [1.467] 0.543 [0.917] 0.473 [0.701] Constant -1.696 [1.140] -0.385 [1.699] 1.829 [1.861] Diagnostics Time effects Yes Yes Yes Fisher test (p-value) 22674.80*** (0.000) 120708.82*** (0.000) 168351.34*** (0.000) AR(1) (p-value) -2.45** (0.014) -2.33** (0.020) -2.32** (0.020) AR(2) (p-value) -0.79 (0.174) -1.55 (0.121) -1.60 (0.109) Sargan test (p-value) 2.30*** (0.942) 7.10*** (0.419) 5.77*** (0.567) Hansen test (p-value) 2.39*** (0.935) 7.48*** (0.381) 6.67*** (0.464) Number of observations 162 136 131 Number of countries 26 25 25 Number of instruments 19 19 19 Source: Authors’ computation (*p < 10%, **p < 5%, ***p < 1%, values in [] and () are respectively standard errors and p-values) The first two estimates revealed that the two sub-indices of DFI, digital access and usage improve employment in agriculture. The latest estimate results (column 3) revealed that DFI also enhances employment in agriculture. One unit increase in digital access, digital use and digital financial inclusion improves employment in agriculture by 1.867, 0.403 and 2.602 units respectively. Results imply that formal financial services access and use via digital platforms is beneficial for employment in agriculture because it reduces distance between individuals and financial institutions and thus, falls barriers in traditional financial systems. This outcome is conformed to Xu and Wang ( 2023 ) found that DFI improves the level of agricultural output and to Geng and He ( 2021 ) who also found that Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) enhance sustainable employment in upper-middle-income and high-income economies but found insignificant impact in lower-middle-income economies. Results also showed that control variables notably annual growth of gross domestic product per capita and inflation are significant for the digital financial inclusion sub-indices (digital access and usage) as soon as the DFI index. The estimated outcomes indicate that annual growth of gross domestic product per capita and inflation have a significantly negative influence on employment in agriculture. An increase of one unit in annual growth of gross domestic product per capita reduces employment in agriculture between 0.111 and 0.228. This result implies that the level of per capita economic growth achieved by SSA nations is not favourable to employment in agriculture. This result is contrary to Arestis et al., 2023 who showed in sixteen European countries that economic growth increases employment. The plausible explanation is that African nations did not happen to create enough wealth, which allowed them to generate jobs on the continent. This is translated by the immigration risk taken by African youths to join the Europe continent in the hope of a better life at the risk of their lives. For example, in our sample, we also remark that the GDP growth average is 0.728 (Table 2) which is low for job generation and to solve unemployment problems in Africa. Similarly, a one-unit increase in inflation lessens employment in agriculture by 0.005 for digital access and by 0.006 for digital financial inclusion. The outcome conformed to N’Guessan ( 2018 ) and Kassouri ( 2024 ) who found that inflation negatively influences employment beyond the estimated threshold. Since the seminal work of Phillips ( 1958 ), the question of whether inflation can be stabilized at optimal levels without adversely, affecting employment has been a subject of extensive discussion in macroeconomic literature. Phillips emphasizes the critical importance of understanding the relationship between inflation and employment to prevent the "overshooting" or "undershooting" of the "targeted equilibrium," as both variables are essential policy instruments. Theoretically, two mechanisms are proposed through which higher inflation could potentially hinder employment: the absence of indexed loans and the phenomenon of inflation illusion, as noted by Wadhwani ( 1987 ). It is widely recognized that elevated inflation could lead to significant cash-flow challenges for firms, particularly if they secured loans during periods of unanticipated inflation without indexation (Wadhwani 1987 ). 4. Conclusion Job generation is a main challenge for African countries that face an increase in labour force population. The agriculture sector remains in Africa one of the sector providers of employment. However, this sector faced several problems such as access to credit which is limited due to the low financial inclusion of the population. The rapid development of information communication and technology constitutes a way to include underserved people in financial services through digital platforms to increase their access to credit and in turn generate jobs. The p purpose of this paper was undertaken in this context to assess the digital financial inclusion (DFI) influence on agricultural job generation in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations. Using a sample of 26 SSA nations over the period 2014–2021 and the general method of moments in the system (SGMM) on panel data, the estimation results show that digital access and digital use promote employment in agriculture. Similarly, the DFI improves employment in agriculture, allowing us to confirm that DFI is a factor that promotes employment in agriculture in SSA nations. Other determinants of employment in agriculture are economic growth and inflation, which negatively affect employment in agriculture. Regarding the outcomes, to reduce unemployment in SSA nations, governments and policymakers must take action to include individuals in financial services through the development and use of digital platforms. This will pass through the development of ICT infrastructure to low internet cost. Also, African countries need to increase their domestic production to generate more economic growth to create jobs for their young people to keep them on the continent for its development. Actions need to be taken to combat inflation by increasing domestic production. A social protection programme is essential to remove young people from unemployment situations. This study did not consider the role that can play in social protection in the inclusion of underserved people to financial services through digital platforms; this constitutes a limitation of our study. So, in future studies, we can explore the role of social protection in the link between digital financial inclusion and employment in agriculture. Declarations Availability of data and materials : The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request Competing interests : The authors declare that they have no competing interests Funding : No funding was obtained for this study. Author’ contributions : The author read and approved the manuscript Acknowledgements : Not applicable References Ahmad, M., Majeed, A., Khan, M. A., Sohaib, M., and Shehzad, K. 2021. "Digital financial inclusion and economic growth: provincial data analysis of China". China Economic Journal 14 (3): 291–310. https://doi.org/10.1080/17538963.2021.1882064 Akpa, A. F., and Asongu, S. A. 2023. "The role of governance in the effect of the internet on financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa". 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Studies in Economics and Econometrics 42: 135–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/10800379.2018.12097330 Neimke, M., Eppendorfer, C., and Beckmann, R. 2002. "Deepening European Financial Integration Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evaluation of Growth and Employment Benefits". https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/5272/ MPRA Paper No. 5272, posted 11 Oct 2007 UTC Niu, G., Jin, X., Wang, Q., and Zhou, Y. 2022. "Broadband infrastructure and digital financial inclusion in rural China". China Economic Review 76 (2022): 101853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2022.101853 Ozili, P. K. 2018. "Impact of digital finance on financial inclusion and stability". Borsa Istanbul Review 18 (4): 329–340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bir.2017.12.003 Ozturk, I., and Ullah, S. 2022. "Does digital financial inclusion matter for economic growth and environmental sustainability in OBRI economies? An empirical analysis". Resources, Conservation and Recycling 185 : 106489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106489 Phillips, A. W. 1958. "The relation between unemployment and the rate of change of money wage rates in the United Kingdom, 1861–19571". Economica 25: 283–299. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0335.1958.tb00003.x Ploeg, D. 1986. "The effects of a tax and incomes policy on government finance, employment and capital formation". Economic Times 134(3): 269-288. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01856693 Roodman, D. 2009a. "A note on the theme of too many instruments". Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 71(1), 135–158. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468‐0084.2008. 00542.x Roodman, D. 2009b. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata". Stata Journal 9(1): 86–136. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867X0900900106 Shaw, E. 1973. "Financial deepening in economic development". Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/1238641 Shen, Y., Hu, W., and Hueng, C. J. 2021. "Digital financial inclusion and economic growth: a cross-country study". Procedia Computer Science 187 : 218–223. Tchamyou, V. S. 2019a. "Education, lifelong learning, inequality and financial access: Evidence from African countries". Contemporary Social Science 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2018.1433314 Tchamyou, V. S. 2019b. "The role of information sharing in modulating the effect of financial access on inequality". Journal of African Business 20: 317–338. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228916.2019.1584262 Wadhwani, S. B. 1987. "The effects of inflation and real wages on employment". Economica 54, 21. https://doi.org/10.2307/2554341 Wang, X., Wang, X., Ren, X., and Wen, F. 2022. "Can digital financial inclusion affect CO2 emissions of China at the prefecture level? Evidence from a spatial econometric approach". Energy Economics 109 : 105966. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2022.105966 Wells, A., and McKinnon, I. 1973. "Money and capital in economic development". American Journal of Agricultural Economics , The Brookings Institution, Washington, D. C, 29, 649. https://doi.org/10.2307/1239377. World Bank. 2023. " World Development Indicators". www.worldbank.org Wysokinska, Z. 2021. "A review of the impact of the digital transformation on the global and European economy". Comparative Economic Research. Central and Eastern Europe 24(3): 75-92. Xu, S., and Wang, J. 2023. "The Impact of Digital Financial Inclusion on the Level of Agricultural Output". Sustainability 15: 4138. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054138 Yang, Z., Yu, L., Liu, Y., Yin, Z., and Xiao, Z. 2022. "Financial Inclusion and Carbon Reduction: Evidence From Chinese Counties". Frontiers in Environmental Science 9 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2021.793221 Yu, M., Tsai, F.-S., Jin, H., and Zhang, H. 2022. "Digital finance and renewable energy consumption: evidence from China". Financial Innovation 8 (1): 58. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40854-022-00362-5 Zhang, M., and Liu, Y. 2022. "Influence of digital finance and green technology innovation on China’s carbon emission efficiency: Empirical analysis based on spatial metrology". Science of The Total Environment 838 : 156463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156463 Zhang, X., Zhang, J., Wan, G., and Luo, Z. 2019. "Fintech, growth and inequality: evidence from China’s household survey data". The Singapore Economic Review 65 (supp01): 75–93. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217590819440028 Table Table 2 is not available with this version. Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Appendices.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4182429","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":285329594,"identity":"038f7889-7ca7-4e21-8e41-771e5f73d1f7","order_by":0,"name":"Armand Fréjuis Akpa","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA9UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBAC9gYGBgMgZJBgYGB8ABTg4SOkhecAQguzAUiAjRgtYADUwiYBYhDWIn34QDFPQZ285OzmZ5Vfc+xk2BiYHz66gU8LX1qCMY/BYcPZMsfMbstuSwY6jM3YOAePFnseHgOglgOM8yQSzG5LbmMGauFhk8anhYeH/wNQS539PIn0b8WS2+qJ0cLDANTCnDhbIseM8eO2w8RoYTMwnGNwOHnmnDPF0ozbjvOwMRPwCw8P8zODN3/qbGfcbt/48ee2ant+9uaHj/FpAQI2AzAFikseEIMZv3KwkgcwLYw/CKseBaNgFIyCEQgAtpw9iCMlceMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Université d’Abomey-Calavi (UAC)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Armand","middleName":"Fréjuis","lastName":"Akpa","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-03-28 12:54:37","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4182429/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4182429/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":53969661,"identity":"a1f3c4c0-6b1b-4073-8edc-beec730c429b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-02 20:35:35","extension":"jpeg","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":174524,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRelationship between digital financial inclusion and agricultural job generation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4182429/v1/c4271ad6ca07088267f1c8d1.jpeg"},{"id":54066335,"identity":"f6c67578-daa7-4190-8b90-a7488780699f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-04 06:05:29","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":363941,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4182429/v1/498f67dc-00ca-492b-9a2f-db37b56ce873.pdf"},{"id":53969660,"identity":"75226bc0-d53f-4975-94db-f1961f39baff","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-04-02 20:35:35","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":15382,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Appendices.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4182429/v1/cf2a280fb363a686d5b92326.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Does Digital Financial Inclusion Matter for Agricultural Jobs Generation in the Post-Pandemic Era in SSA Countries?","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe extant economic literature showcases the extended past of studies on the association between financial development and job generation (Geng and He \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Wells and McKinnon (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1973\u003c/span\u003e) and Shaw (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1973\u003c/span\u003e) penned about the financial deepening theory and claimed that financial liberalisation and financial deepening have effects on income, saving and employment, which could be raised. The link between financial development and employment is regularly examined from macro and micro views. Ploeg (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1986\u003c/span\u003e) trusted that monetary financing is successful at increasing investment, which increases the employment scope. Neimke et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e) stated that financial development first drives economic development and then indirectly promotes employment. Levine\u0026rsquo;s (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1997\u003c/span\u003e) research preceded Neimke\u0026rsquo;s, finding that financial development has a mediating effect through economic growth and then drives employment. Masten et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR28\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e) wrote that financial development and employment have a relationship of opposites, in which the positive effect of employment in developing countries is significant whereas in developed economies it is weak.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe rapid expansion of ICT has reformed the financial industry landscape with digital technologies, and financial services can be relinquished in further efficient and less expensive pathways (Chinoda and Kapingura \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Niu et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Geng and He \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). For instance, rather than establishing physical branches like bank outlets, financial institutions can extend a diverse array of digital services to a wide customer base accessible through computers, smartphones, and other electronic devices (Niu et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Chinoda and Kapingura \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). The ICT\u0026rsquo;s integration with finance holds the potential to enhance financial inclusion by inviting more individuals, especially those traditionally underserved, into the contemporary financial system (Niu et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Liu et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Previous research has demonstrated that improved financial inclusion yields favourable outcomes at the individual, enterprise, and societal levels (Demirg\u0026uuml;\u0026ccedil;-Kunt and Singer \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Kabakova and Plaksenkov \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). According to Geng and He (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), DFI represents a novel frontier in financial development, breaking geographical constraints in traditional financial inclusion and lowering financing costs for small firms by empowering them online and leveraging big data technology. As asserted by Liu et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), DFI serves as a digital strategy that fosters information sharing, effectively reduces transaction costs and service thresholds, and broadens the reach of financial services through the application of internet technology, encompassing computer information processing, data communication, extensive data analysis, cloud computing, and a range of related technologies within the financial sector.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn the extant literature, DFI\u0026rsquo;s effect is linked with many other variables. For example, Chinoda and Kapingura (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), Ahmad et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), Shen et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), Khera et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) and Myovella et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e) associated DFI with economic growth and found that it is favourable to economic growth, however, Chinoda and Kapingura (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) showed that institution and governance quality plays a key role. Similarly, Yu et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) and Yang et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) showed that DFI lowers carbon emissions while other studies (Huang et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Lee et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Wang et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Zhang and Liu \u003cspan citationid=\"CR51\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) found controversial outcomes with studies showing positive and U-shaped effect. Khan et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) and Ozturk and Ullah (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e) found that DFI increases carbon emissions. Xu and Wang (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) analysed the DFI\u0026rsquo;s effect on the level of agricultural output and found positive effect with a double threshold for the DFI\u0026rsquo;s effect. According to Geng and He (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), the impact of DFI on sustainable employment is found to be statistically insignificant in lower-middle-income economies. However, in upper-middle-income and high-income economies, the effect is notably significant, particularly in the former category. The plausible explanation found by the authors is that upper-middle-income nations have greater investment revenues caused by advanced technology and greater operating efficiency than lower-middle-income nations. Through additional analysis, the authors demonstrated a distinctive threshold effect of DFI, revealing a positive impact on sustainable employment in upper-middle-income economies. But the link between DFI and agricultural jobs generation is under-considered in the extant literature. This paper was undertaken to fill this gap and investigate the DFI\u0026rsquo;s effect on agricultural jobs generation in SSA. DFI can help to improve financial development by delivering to financial services, digital access, in particular to financially underserved groups of people at reduced cost (Zhang et al. \u003cspan citationid=\"CR52\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e) and offering digital paths of capital formation, savings, and investment occasions for jobs (Ozili \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSeveral reasons motivated the choice of Sub-Saharan Africa for analysing the effect of digital financial inclusion on agricultural job generation in SSA. The first reason is the low use of digital financial services. For example, in 2021, according to Global Findex statistics in 2022, the percentage of the population aged 15 years and above who used a debit card was 11% while those who used a mobile phone or the internet to pay bills was 17% in 2021%. Internet low-rate penetration is another reason which explains digital financial services' under use. Digital financial service use is estimated at 35.86% in 2021 (World Bank \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) and its costs are too expensive (Akpa \u0026amp; Asongu, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Akpa et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). The last reason is that in Africa, more than one in four young people; about 72\u0026nbsp;million are not in employment, education, or training with two-thirds of them who are young women (ILOSTAT \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). We choose the agriculture sector because it is the sector, which provides more jobs than the other sectors. According to the World Bank (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), the percentage of employment in agriculture in SSA nations is 51.57%, which is higher than this in industry (11.75%) and in services (36.68%). This study offers insightful policy recommendations to financial services sectors by showing that, DFI\u0026rsquo;s promotion is useful to face later, another crisis such as COVID-19 and to continue to generate jobs. Indeed, our paper is supported by Anser et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) who find that infected COVID-19 cases are the major factors that hinder financial activities and reduce money supply. DFI can reduce distance between customers and financial institutions by delivering to individuals financial services through digital platforms because the COVID-19 crisis has imposed barrier measures such as distance.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe rest of this paper is structured into four sections. Section two delivers the methodology while the third one presents and discusses the econometric outcome and finally in the fourth section we conclude before giving policy implications.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2. Methodology","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.1. Conceptual framework\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eIn recent decades, the concept of Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) has garnered considerable attention from both researchers and policymakers (Chinoda and Kapingura \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Ahmad et al. \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Yu et al. \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Yang et al. \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Ozili \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). Chinoda and Kapingura (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) perceive DFI as a transformative force capable of bringing about revolutionary developments in the global financial sector. In essence, digital financial inclusion refers to the proportion of individuals and businesses that access and utilize formal financial services through digital platforms (Chinoda and Kapingura \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). The advent of digitalization has brought about significant changes in financial systems across both developing and developed countries (Wysokinska \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Chinoda and Kapingura \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Barriers in traditional financial systems are consistently diminishing (Kooli et al. \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e), leading to a rise in financial inclusion, a factor recognized as a crucial facilitator in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (Allen et al. \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eIn the above figure, we conceptualise the mechanism through which DFI enhances agricultural job generation in SSA nations (see Figure). Indeed, one of the biggest challenges for governments and policymakers is the resolution of unemployment problems they are facing. DFI concept is divided into digital access measured by the percentage population with access to the internet and mobile subscription per 100 people and digital usage measured by the number of registered mobile money agents per 100,000 adults and the number of active mobile money accounts per 1000 adults. When individuals are digitally financially included, this will increase their access to credit and in turn will increase their investment in income generating activities such as agricultural jobs which are the most job providers in SSA nations. Investment in agriculture will allow them not only to drop out of unemployment but also to remove other young by engaging them in their activities and so, to reduce the unemployment problem of young people.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.2. Model specification\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThis study aligns with recent literature employing the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) as the chosen estimation strategy, influenced by four key considerations (Asongu and Nwachukwu \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016a\u003c/span\u003e; Tchamyou \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019a\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003eb\u003c/span\u003e; Asongu and Odhiambo \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). Firstly, the number of cross-sections significantly surpasses the corresponding number of periods within each cross-section, denoted as N (or 26 countries)\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;T (2014\u0026ndash;2021 or 8 years). Secondly, the persistence of the dependent variable (employment in agriculture) is evident, as the correlations between their current levels and first lag values exceed 0.800 (see estimation Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e), a commonly accepted threshold for establishing persistence in a variable (Tchamyou \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019b\u003c/span\u003e; Asongu and Odhiambo \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThirdly, the estimation processes in this study account for cross-country variations in light of the panel data structure. Fourthly, the study addresses the endogeneity issue by incorporating controls for unobserved heterogeneity related to time-invariant omitted variables. Moreover, reverse causality or simultaneity concerns are mitigated through an instrumental variable approach. The GMM technique employed in this study is based on the Arellano and Bover (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1995\u003c/span\u003e) framework, enhanced by Roodman (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009a\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003eb\u003c/span\u003e,), a refinement documented in existing literature for its effectiveness in reducing the proliferation of instruments (Asongu and Nwachukwu \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016b\u003c/span\u003e; Boateng et al. \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e; Asongu and Odhiambo \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe subsequent equations in both level (1) and first difference (2) encapsulate the standard procedure for system GMM estimation.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cimg 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\" width=\"799\" height=\"117\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eWhere \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\({EA}_{i,t}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e is employment in agriculture of country \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(i\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e in period \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(t\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\({DFI}_{it}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e is digital financial inclusion, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(X\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e represents a vector of control variables (economic growth, inflation and trade openness), \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\tau\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e represents the coefficient of auto-regression which is one within the framework of this study because a year lag is enough to capture past information, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\({\\zeta }_{t}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e is the time-specific constant, \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\({\\eta }_{i}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e is the country-specific effect and \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\({\\epsilon }_{i,t}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e the error term. These variables have been frequently used in the literature (Kassouri \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e; Chinoda and Kapingura \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Xu and Wang \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Arestis et al. \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Geng and He \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; N\u0026rsquo;Guessan \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). All the independent variables and the pertinent theory justifying how they influence human capital are clarified in turn as:\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDigital financial inclusion\u003c/em\u003e. DFI is the use of financial services through the application of Internet technology, encompassing computer information processing, data communication, extensive data analysis, cloud computing, and a range of related technologies within the financial sector and can lead to agricultural jobs generation (Xu and Wang \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e; Geng and He \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEconomic growth\u003c/em\u003e. Economic growth refers to the increase in the production and consumption of goods and services in an economy over time. Positive economic growth signifies an expansion of an economy\u0026apos;s productive capacity and is often associated with improvements in living standards, employment opportunities, and a higher overall standard of living for the population. On the other hand, negative economic growth, also known as economic contraction or recession, indicates a decline in economic activity, leading to potential negative consequences such as unemployment and reduced income. Thus, economic growth can lead to the improvement of agricultural job generation (Arestis et al. \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eI\u003cem\u003enflation\u003c/em\u003e. Inflation, which is a generalized increase in the price level, can lead to a reduction in agricultural jobs generation because a price rise reduces the demand for goods and services, this in turn reduces goods and services offered by enterprises and so jobs are decreased (N\u0026rsquo;Guessan \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e; Kassouri \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTrade openness\u003c/em\u003e. Trade openness refers to the degree to which a country participates in international trade and the extent to which its economy is open to foreign trade and investment. High trade openness can expose a country to global economic fluctuations and may pose challenges related to trade imbalances, dependency on external markets, and vulnerability to international economic conditions and can also lead to agricultural jobs generation reduction (Arestis et al. \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eTo gauge digital financial inclusion, four indicators are utilized. These dimensions encompass: (1) the percentage of the population with access to the internet, (2) mobile subscriptions per 100 people, (3) the number of registered mobile money agents per 100,000 adults, and (4) the number of active mobile money accounts per 1000 adults. To calculate the sub-indexes (digital access: percentage of the population with access to the internet and mobile subscriptions per 100 people, and digital usage: the number of registered mobile money agents per 100,000 adults and the number of active mobile money accounts per 1000 adults) constituting the digital financial inclusion index, we employ principal component analysis.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe method applied for retaining common factors adheres to the Kaiser (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1974\u003c/span\u003e) and Jolliffe (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e) criterion for selecting principal components in principal component analysis. According to this criterion, only principal components with eigenvalues greater than the mean are retained (Asongu et al. \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Asongu and Odhiambo \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). As noted by Asongu and Odhiambo (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), this criterion is adopted for retaining composite digital financial inclusion indicators in this study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003e2.3. Data and sources\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThis study employs annual data covering the period 2014 to 2021 for 26 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, sourced from various outlets such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Financial Access Survey (FAS), World Development Indicator (WDI), and International Labour Organization. Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e provides a summary of variable statistics, with standard deviations indicating relatively small dispersions around the mean values.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe measurement of agricultural job generation is based on the percentage of total employment in agriculture, obtained from the International Labour Organization. On average, employment in agriculture is 46.235%, ranging from 12.406\u0026ndash;77.231%, indicating disparities among SSA nations. Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) is defined as the percentage of individuals and companies accessing financial services via digital platforms. The mean DFI value is 0.318, ranging from 4.91e-08 to 1. Its sub-indexes, digital access and digital usage, have mean values of 0.374 and 0.208, with ranges from 4.10e-08 to 1 and 6.07e-08 to 1, respectively. This highlights heterogeneity among SSA countries in terms of DFI, digital access, and digital usage.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eEconomic growth, inflation, and trade openness data are sourced from the WDI. Economic growth, measured by annual growth in gross domestic product per capita as a percentage, averages 0.728% from 2014 to 2021, with values ranging from \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;12.889\u0026ndash;9.562%, indicating annual instability and wealth disparities among SSA nations. Inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index (2010\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;100), averages 12.676, with values ranging from \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;3.233 to 557.202. Trade openness, represented as the sum of imports and exports as a percentage of GDP, stands at 0.518 for the selected countries, with values ranging from 0.095 to 1.238.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe study reveals a negative association between employment in agriculture and digital financial inclusion (-0.669), digital access (0.158), digital usage (0.489), and trade openness (0.486) (see Appendix 2). This implies that an increase in digital financial inclusion, digital access, digital usage, and trade openness corresponds to a decrease in agricultural employment. Conversely, a positive correlation exists between employment in agriculture and economic growth (0.120) and inflation (0.058), indicating that an increase in economic growth and inflation leads to a rise in agricultural employment.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003ctable id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e\n \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSummary statistics of variables\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e\n \u003c/caption\u003e\n \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\n \u003cthead\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eVariables\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eObs.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMean\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eStd. Dev.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMin\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMax\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/thead\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eEmployment in agriculture\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e208\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e46.235\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e18.890\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e12.406\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e77.231\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eDigital access\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e198\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.374\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.220\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.10e-08\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eDigital usage\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e159\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.208\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.172\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6.07e-08\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eDigital financial inclusion\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e151\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.318\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.191\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.91e-08\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eEconomic growth\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e208\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.728\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.613\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-12.889\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e9.562\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eInflation\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e197\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e12.676\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e51.986\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-3.233\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e557.202\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eTrade openness\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e201\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.518\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.230\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.095\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1.238\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eSource: Authors\u0026rsquo; computation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"3. Results and discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eTable\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e presents the results of estimating the impact of Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) on employment in agriculture using the System GMM (SGMM) technique. The diagnostic tests indicate the overall significance of the model, as the probability from the Fisher test is less than 1%. Additionally, the results reveal the presence of first-order autocorrelation (AR (1)) and the absence of AR (2) effects, aligning with the formulated hypotheses. Furthermore, the Sargan and Hansen tests validate the selection of instruments for all three estimates. The coefficients for the lagged values of employment in agriculture are consistently positive across all estimated specifications. This suggests that employment in agriculture exhibits a self-sustaining nature, wherein its past values positively influence its current values, reflecting the persistence of the variable.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEffect of DFI on Agricultural Jobs Generation using SGMM\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eVariables\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDependent: Employment in agriculture\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(2)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e(3)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEmployment in agriculture (-1)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.142***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.069]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.996***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.025]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.019***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.024]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDigital access\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.867**\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.788]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDigital usage\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.403***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.151]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDigital financial inclusion\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.602***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.923]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePer capita income\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.228***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.067]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.111***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.030]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.146***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.039]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eInflation\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.005***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.001]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.004\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.003]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.006**\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.003]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTrade openness\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-2.446\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[1.467]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.543\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.917]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0.473\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[0.701]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstant\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.696\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[1.140]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.385\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[1.699]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1.829\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e[1.861]\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDiagnostics\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTime effects\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFisher test (p-value)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e22674.80***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.000)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e120708.82***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.000)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e168351.34***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.000)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAR(1) (p-value)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-2.45**\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.014)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-2.33**\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.020)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-2.32**\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.020)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAR(2) (p-value)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-0.79\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.174)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.55\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.121)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e-1.60\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.109)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSargan test (p-value)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.30***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.942)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.10***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.419)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5.77***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.567)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eHansen test (p-value)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.39***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.935)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7.48***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.381)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e6.67***\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(0.464)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of observations\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e162\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e136\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e131\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of countries\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e26\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eNumber of instruments\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e19\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003ctfoot\u003e \u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"4\"\u003eSource: Authors\u0026rsquo; computation (*p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;10%, **p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;5%, ***p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;1%, values in [] and () are respectively standard errors and p-values)\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tfoot\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe first two estimates revealed that the two sub-indices of DFI, digital access and usage improve employment in agriculture. The latest estimate results (column 3) revealed that DFI also enhances employment in agriculture. One unit increase in digital access, digital use and digital financial inclusion improves employment in agriculture by 1.867, 0.403 and 2.602 units respectively. Results imply that formal financial services access and use via digital platforms is beneficial for employment in agriculture because it reduces distance between individuals and financial institutions and thus, falls barriers in traditional financial systems. This outcome is conformed to Xu and Wang (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e) found that DFI improves the level of agricultural output and to Geng and He (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) who also found that Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI) enhance sustainable employment in upper-middle-income and high-income economies but found insignificant impact in lower-middle-income economies.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eResults also showed that control variables notably annual growth of gross domestic product per capita and inflation are significant for the digital financial inclusion sub-indices (digital access and usage) as soon as the DFI index. The estimated outcomes indicate that annual growth of gross domestic product per capita and inflation have a significantly negative influence on employment in agriculture. An increase of one unit in annual growth of gross domestic product per capita reduces employment in agriculture between 0.111 and 0.228. This result implies that the level of per capita economic growth achieved by SSA nations is not favourable to employment in agriculture. This result is contrary to Arestis et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e who showed in sixteen European countries that economic growth increases employment. The plausible explanation is that African nations did not happen to create enough wealth, which allowed them to generate jobs on the continent. This is translated by the immigration risk taken by African youths to join the Europe continent in the hope of a better life at the risk of their lives. For example, in our sample, we also remark that the GDP growth average is 0.728 (Table\u0026nbsp;2) which is low for job generation and to solve unemployment problems in Africa.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSimilarly, a one-unit increase in inflation lessens employment in agriculture by 0.005 for digital access and by 0.006 for digital financial inclusion. The outcome conformed to N\u0026rsquo;Guessan (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e) and Kassouri (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e) who found that inflation negatively influences employment beyond the estimated threshold. Since the seminal work of Phillips (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1958\u003c/span\u003e), the question of whether inflation can be stabilized at optimal levels without adversely, affecting employment has been a subject of extensive discussion in macroeconomic literature. Phillips emphasizes the critical importance of understanding the relationship between inflation and employment to prevent the \"overshooting\" or \"undershooting\" of the \"targeted equilibrium,\" as both variables are essential policy instruments. Theoretically, two mechanisms are proposed through which higher inflation could potentially hinder employment: the absence of indexed loans and the phenomenon of inflation illusion, as noted by Wadhwani (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1987\u003c/span\u003e). It is widely recognized that elevated inflation could lead to significant cash-flow challenges for firms, particularly if they secured loans during periods of unanticipated inflation without indexation (Wadhwani \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1987\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"4. Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eJob generation is a main challenge for African countries that face an increase in labour force population. The agriculture sector remains in Africa one of the sector providers of employment. However, this sector faced several problems such as access to credit which is limited due to the low financial inclusion of the population. The rapid development of information communication and technology constitutes a way to include underserved people in financial services through digital platforms to increase their access to credit and in turn generate jobs. The p purpose of this paper was undertaken in this context to assess the digital financial inclusion (DFI) influence on agricultural job generation in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations. Using a sample of 26 SSA nations over the period 2014\u0026ndash;2021 and the general method of moments in the system (SGMM) on panel data, the estimation results show that digital access and digital use promote employment in agriculture. Similarly, the DFI improves employment in agriculture, allowing us to confirm that DFI is a factor that promotes employment in agriculture in SSA nations. Other determinants of employment in agriculture are economic growth and inflation, which negatively affect employment in agriculture.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRegarding the outcomes, to reduce unemployment in SSA nations, governments and policymakers must take action to include individuals in financial services through the development and use of digital platforms. This will pass through the development of ICT infrastructure to low internet cost. Also, African countries need to increase their domestic production to generate more economic growth to create jobs for their young people to keep them on the continent for its development. Actions need to be taken to combat inflation by increasing domestic production. A social protection programme is essential to remove young people from unemployment situations. This study did not consider the role that can play in social protection in the inclusion of underserved people to financial services through digital platforms; this constitutes a limitation of our study. So, in future studies, we can explore the role of social protection in the link between digital financial inclusion and employment in agriculture.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailability of data and materials\u003c/strong\u003e: The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCompeting interests\u003c/strong\u003e: The authors declare that they have no competing interests\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding\u003c/strong\u003e: No funding was obtained for this study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor\u0026rsquo; contributions\u003c/strong\u003e: The author read and approved the manuscript\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c/strong\u003e: Not applicable\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAhmad, M., Majeed, A., Khan, M. 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The agriculture sector remains the major provider of employment in Africa. This sector is faced with several problems such as access to credit, which is limited due to the population's low financial inclusion. The recent COVID 19 pandemic had consequences not only on financial services but also on jobs. The rapid development of information communication and technology (ICT) constitutes a way to include underserved people in financial services through digital platforms to increase their access to credit and in turn generate jobs. This paper was undertaken in this context to assess the digital financial inclusion (DFI) influence on agricultural job generation in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) nations. Using a sample of 26 SSA nations over the period 2014-2021 and the general method of moments in the system (SGMM) on panel data, the estimation results show that digital access and digital use promote employment in agriculture. Similarly, the DFI improves employment in agriculture, allowing us to confirm that DFI is a factor that promotes employment in agriculture in SSA nations. However, the study suggests that to reduce unemployment in SSA nations, governments and policymakers must take action to include individuals in financial services through the development and use of digital platforms.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJEL Codes\u003c/strong\u003e: G20 – O16 – O30 – J21\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Does Digital Financial Inclusion Matter for Agricultural Jobs Generation in the Post-Pandemic Era in SSA Countries?","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-04-02 20:35:30","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4182429/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"75511c7e-100a-45ab-a620-3e6df5820d45","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 2nd, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-04-04T05:57:20+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-04-02 20:35:30","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4182429","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4182429","identity":"rs-4182429","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}