1. Data and methods The data sources and methods of analysis in this study are presented briefly below and detailed in Annexes and in the methods article (da Corta et al., 2021, forthcoming). Throughout, we distinguish the experiences of youth on different poverty trajectories (see Box 1). In our analysis, youth are generally defined as individuals aged between 18 and 35 years old. This means that our sample mainly comprises individuals for whom (often new) work and marriage were the key life cycle stages. Box 1. Poverty trajectories referenced in this study •
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Chronic poverty is long-term poverty that persists over many years, or even a lifetime, and which is often transmitted inter-generationally, and this is how it is viewed in the qualitative data. In the quantitative data, it refers to households that are poor in both survey years. Impoverishment refers to a poor person or household becoming poorer, or somebody who is non-
poor slipping into poverty. In the quantitative data, it refers to households who were non-poor in the 2011 survey and poor in 2014. In the qualitative data, we examine both impoverishment and
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transitory poverty escapes, and we also look at the distance moved into poverty (see Annex C for wellbeing groups). Poverty escapes refers to households that escape poverty over time. In the panel data, this refers to households who were poor in 2011 and non-poor in 2014. In the qualitative data, we are also able to explore sustained poverty escapes (i.e. escapes sustained for five years). In the qualitative data, we also look at the distance moved away from poverty, with three wellbeing levels within the ‘poor’
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category and three levels within the ‘non-poor’ category (see Annex C for more details). Never poor refers to households who never fell into poverty during their lifetime. In the panel analysis, consists of households that were non-poor in both survey years.
Source: Adapted from Shepherd et al. (2014).
Quantitative methods This study analyses the Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) (L’Enquête nationale sur les conditions de vie des ménages et de l’agriculture, or ECVM/A), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of 3,436 households in rural and urban areas of Niger that took place in 2011 and 2014. Descriptive analysis of survey data is accompanied by multinomial logistic regressions to investigate drivers of different poverty trajectories across all households, and also restricted to the subset of youth-headed households. Auxiliary regressions are also conducted at the individual level to investigate correlates of salaried employment of young adults. In the survey, salaried employment is defined as the professional categories of ‘superior executive’, ‘middle executive’ or ‘master agent’, ‘qualified worker or employee’, ‘non-qualified worker or employee’, or ‘labourer’. We disaggregate these into executive agents and qualified workers in one group, and non-qualified workers or labourers as a separate group. Executives and qualified salaried employment are chosen
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