Lewis Turning Point or “Labor Surplus” in Cameroon: Socio-Cultural Realities of the Labour Market and Conditions of Economic Development

Cameroon is a lower-middle-income country that has been experiencing an average population growth of about 2.79% per year since 1990 (WDI 2024)[4]. This country, which is in its second phase of the demographic transition, is experiencing weak economic development, reflecting the socio-cultural context of its labor market. This chapter presents an analysis of the level of exploitation of the working-age population and the conditions for economic development in developing countries. The analysis is based on the theories of demographic transition and development economics to theorize the demo economic transition. The study is then based on the NTA methods, descriptive, prospective analysis and regression and on data from the Cameroonian Household Surveys (ECAM 2, 3 and 4), data from the NTA database, the World Population Prospect (WPP 2004) and World Urbanization Prospect (WUP 2018) to determine the conditions for Cameroon’s economic development.