Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/191897 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
Economics Discussion Papers No. 2019-4
Publisher: 
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), Kiel
Abstract: 
Youth unemployment, and unemployment, in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) countries are among the highest in the world. The tendency to generalize, however, is inappropriate as different groups of countries exhibit vastly different labor market outcomes and causes vary. The standard way of thinking about youth unemployment - i.e. demand for labor driven by economic growth and supply driven by demographics - is of limited use in the MENA countries. Other factors, including sectoral composition of growth, the oil and gas endowment, a large pool of underutilized workers, cultural factors, and mismatch appear to play a more important role, as the case study of Morocco illustrates. The prospects for reducing youth unemployment over the next few years are not good. Policy-makers need to pay more attention to the growth of services, especially those that are, and that tend to remain, labor intensive.
Subjects: 
unemployment
youth bulge
labor demand
labor productivity
Middle East
North Africa
oil states
JEL: 
J23
J48
J61
J71
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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