PhDs Africa @ Work: Transformation of employment 1920 - 2020

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FEBRI, the graduate school and research institute of the Faculty of Economics and Business has available two PhD positions for the project Africa @ Work: Transformation of employment 1920 - 2020 embedded within the ERC Consolidator Grant project AWORK

What are you going to do?

Project 1 examines how urbanisation in Africa has reshaped where people work, the kinds of jobs they do, and the opportunities available to them over the long run. Using population censuses and labour surveys, the project reconstructs long-run changes in the location and structure of employment, tracking rural–urban migration, sectoral shifts, and labour market responses to periods of economic expansion, crisis, and structural adjustment.

Focusing on Zambia, Angola, and Côte d’Ivoire, the project compares how different development paths have produced distinct urban labour markets. In some contexts, urban growth has been driven by natural resource booms, shifting labour away from agriculture into state-related and service activities with limited productivity gains. In others, urbanisation has emerged from rising agricultural productivity or rural pressures, generating more diverse forms of work in trade, transport, and services. The central question is whether urbanisation has translated into productive and sustainable employment, or instead reproduced new forms of vulnerability and informality.

Project 2 examines how gender inequalities in African labour markets emerged, how they evolved over time, and why they remain so persistent. Using population censuses, labour reports, and agricultural surveys, the project reconstructs long-run patterns of women’s and men’s participation across formal employment, informal work, own-account activities, and unpaid family labour, making visible forms of work that were often poorly recorded or overlooked.

Focusing on Kenya, Uganda, and Botswana, the project compares how different economic systems—a settler economy, a peasant cash-crop economy, and a mining-based economy—produced distinct gendered labour regimes. In Kenya, women’s labour was central to settler agriculture yet systematically undervalued; in Uganda, men dominated cash-crop production while women remained concentrated in subsistence farming and local trade; and in Botswana, mining-led growth generated formal employment largely inaccessible to women, pushing them into low-income urban activities. The central question is how these historical labour regimes shaped access to work, income, and security, and why gender gaps in employment persist even as African economies transformed.

The ideal candidates have:

• Obtained a MSc degree (or equivalent) in Economics, Economic History, Development Economics, or Spatial Sciences, or a closely related field, with excellent results.
• A clear interest in economic history, long-run development, and processes of structural change over time, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
• Affinity with one or more of the following areas: development economics, economic history, urbanisation, inequality, or spatial analysis.
• An interest in working with archival and other primary sources, and the ability or willingness to develop skills in working with large and sometimes fragmented historical datasets, including linking historical and contemporary data.
• Experience with, or a strong willingness to develop skills in, quantitative data analysis, with Python, Stata, or R or experience working with GIS software (experience with at least one of these is preferred).

You also have:

• Excellent command of English, both written and spoken.
• Strong analytical skills, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to work both independently and collaboratively within an international research team.

• 232 vacation hours per year, based on a 38-hour workweek (1.0 FTE). You can also work more or fewer hours in exchange for more or fewer free hours. For example, with a 40-hour workweek, you save 96 extra free hours, and with a 36-hour workweek, you lose 96 hours.
• End-of-year bonus of 8.3% and 8% holiday allowance.
• Extensive opportunities for personal and professional development.

At the University of Groningen (UG), researchers from all fields of academia and technology are working on academic challenges and societal questions. Lecturers prepare their students for meaningful careers within or outside the academic world. Interdisciplinary research and teaching, sharing of knowledge, collaboration with businesses, government institutions, and societal organizations are aspects that are of the utmost importance to this European top university. The UG aims to be an open academic community with an inclusive and safe working climate that invites you to add your value.

Shaping a better future together – your career starts at FEB The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) at the University of Groningen is a vibrant academic community with a clear mission: to develop knowledge that matters. With students and staff from over 100 countries, we foster an international working and learning environment where societal impact, world-class research, and innovation are at the core. At FEB, you’ll join committed colleagues who inspire and challenge one another. Whether you're a researcher, lecturer, or support professional, your skills and ambition will contribute to educating tomorrow’s leaders and thinkers. We encourage personal development and provide plenty of room for initiative and growth. Ready to take the next step in your career? Explore our vacancies and become part of one of the Netherlands’ leading faculties.

The PhD positions are embedded in the research programme Economics, Econometrics and Finance of FEB’s Research Institute. The projects will be supervised by Prof. Jutta Bolt, and both PhD projects will be embedded within the ERC Consolidator Grant project AWORK, contributing to a larger effort to understand long-term structural transformation, employment, and inequality in African economies.

Do you have any questions or need more information?

Questions about the content of the job?
Jutta Bolt (Full Professor): J.Bolt@rug.nl

Questions about your application process?
Rina Koning (Policy Officer): A.C.Koning@rug.nl