From FT's Beyond Brics:
Sub-Saharan Africa has enjoyed rapid growth over the past 20 years but its citizens seem not to share the zeal of some frontier market watchers. The region’s levels of poverty have not sunk nearly as quickly as East Asia’s (see chart below). Africans routinely complain that wealth has not trickled down.More here
Why is this?
John Page and Abebe Shimeles, authors of a recent study published by the World Institute for Development Economic Research, think they have found an answer: not enough workers have moved from the fields to offices and factories. Whereas East Asian jobs have rapidly shifted from agriculture to high-productivity services and industry, such a sectoral shift is less noticeable in Africa. Indeed, in Tanzania and Uganda, jobs have moved in the other direction, from services to agriculture.