Abstract
Today, one in five youths who enter the labor market is born in Africa. By 2050, it will be one in three. The record figure of young Africans seeking employment is the outcome of different fertility trends across the world: fertility has been falling everywhere, but much more slowly in Africa. This paper present evidence on the labor market consequences of these differences for the young labor market entrants in Africa, compared to older generations and to their counterparts in other low- and middle-income regions of the world. We study how job opportunities depend on the demographic structure and which policies can be implemented to counteract the demographic pressure.