Each tonne of second-hand clothing (SHC) imported into five African countries sustains at least 6.5 jobs, a study seeking to quantify the impact of the SHC sector on employment in African nations has found.
- This represents up to 25% of total service sector employment, in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia where a majority of the population relies on non-mechanised agriculture to support their livelihoods.
- The countries included in this study continue to suffer from high levels of extreme poverty, defined as living below the International Poverty Line of $2.15 a day.
- The report, commissioned by the international development network Humana People to People, is titled Job Creation in Africa’s Second-hand Clothing Sector: Evidence from Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia.
- The study presents compelling evidence of the sector's pivotal role in driving job creation, strengthening livelihoods, and generating vital revenue streams for African governments.
LIVELIHOODS: The jobs that the SHC sector creates in turn are likely to support over 2.5 million people, taking account of dependents in households.
- A recent study of SHC retailers and traders in Ghana found that 88.1% of those surveyed served as primary earners in their households, and that a majority of traders (87.8%) had one or more dependents, indicating significant contributions to household incomes. Informal trade and SHC retail can therefore provide opportunities to diversify income streams and sustain livelihoods, particularly for those who find themselves stuck in low-productivity, subsistence farming.
TAX CONTRIBUTIONS: The sector generates vital revenue for hard-pressed governments. The sector provides over $73.5 million annually in tax revenues to countries that are among the poorest in the world.
- These tax revenues fund public services and infrastructure necessary for economic development. Around two-thirds of the population of Malawi, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Zambia still live in extreme poverty or multidimensional poverty.
- In 2022, estimated tax intake from SHC to Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia alone was estimated to lie above $73.5 million when considering average import tariffs, VAT rates as well as Costs & Freight (C&F).
CONSUMPTION: The trade enables citizens from low-income households to purchase high-quality and affordable clothing.
INDUSTRIAL OPPORTUNITY: The SHC trade offers African governments a sector to champion for further job creation and economic development. Contrary to the views of some economic commentators, the study’s review of the literature indicates that the growth of used clothing imports is not a credible explanation for the erosion of textile manufacturing in Africa.
- A more plausible reason is that African economies currently face a comparative cost disadvantage relative to Asian producers. Experts largely agree that difficulties in accessing raw materials and the long-term failure to invest in plant and machinery, alongside a shortage of skills and human capital, have driven the inexorable decline of the textile industry in many parts of Africa.
- This decline was exacerbated by trade liberalisation policies which led to an increased in-flow not only of SHC but more importantly of low-quality imports of new clothes from Asian countries.
GREEN JOBS IN A CIRCULAR ECONOMY: The used clothing industry is a clear demonstration of a robust circular economy at work which extends the lifecycle of used textiles, while also giving access to affordable, good-quality and sustainable clothing to people in the Global South.
- Reducing waste and harmful environmental effects to combat climate change means maximising circularity, which above all entails increasing the longevity and quality of textiles, and thereby increasing the rate of textile reuse. Supporting the growth of this sector can help create more green jobs.
