It is an article of faith in many African countries that education is not only a principle motor for development, but also an important instrument in assuring a more equitable distribution of wealth. In the eyes of policy-makers and the public at large, education and training permit a new generation to develop its talents and acquire the characteristics with which to find a well-deserved niche in the employment structure and thus contribute to the country's development. A central focus is on technical and vocational skills which are considered crucial in making people employable or otherwise enabling them to create their own work. Differences in jobs, along with differences in material and social rewards, are attributed to variations in skill levels. Ultimately these differences are associated with variation in ability and effort.

A more critical analysis of actual linkages between education, the labor market, and the employment structure reveals that often skill characteristics are rewarded differently, less because of variations in quality than because of structural conditions in the labor market. On the one hand important differences exist between enterprises which, depending on their mode of production, have a preference for specific worker characteristics and associate these with particular training arrangements. Different occupational or work-positions thus arise which carry diverging rewards and career prospects, even though the actual work done is similar. On the other hand there is ample evidence that factors like race, gender, and class strongly influence access to jobs, so that different social groups find their effective choices in the labor market severely restricted.