Labor Market Reforms, Growth, and Unemployment in Labor-exporting Countries in the Middle East and North Africa

Labor Market Reforms, Growth, and Unemployment in Labor-exporting Countries in the Middle East and North Africa
Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 64
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN:

This paper studies the impact of labor market policies on growth and unemployment in labor-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The analysis is based on a framework that captures many of the main features of the labor market in these countries. We conduct a variety of policy experiments, including a reduction in payroll taxation, cuts in public sector wages and employment, an increase in employment subsidies, a reduction in trade unions' bargaining power, and a composite reform program. Our key message is that to foster broad-based growth and job creation in the region, labor market reforms must not be viewed in isolation but rather as a component of a comprehensive program of structural reforms.

Creating Employment in the Middle East and North Africa

Creating Employment in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: Mr.E. H. Gardner
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 24
Release: 2003-09-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781589062320

The population of the Middle East and North Africa is one of the fastest growing in the world, but jobs have not grown as fast as the region’s workforce. This paper addresses questions such as"Can current GDP growth generate more employment, or will higher GDP growth be required?"and "Will the current pattern of job creation-with much of the region’s workforce employed by the public sector-need to change?"

Unlocking the Employment Potential in the Middle East and North Africa

Unlocking the Employment Potential in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2004
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

For the Middle East and Africa (MENA region), the key to their economic future will be determined by the fate of their indigenous labour markets. The challenge for this part of the world is to create 100 million jobs. Such an objective is hampered by the already prevailing economic conditions. All MENA countries are suffering from high unemployment, which is directly effecting women, the young, and the educated, but at the same time has the fastest growing labour market in the world. This title argues that meeting this employment challenge will require the transformation of the regions societies and economic structures as well as a new development model based on a reinvigorated private sector, greater integration into the world economy, and better management of oil resources. These drivers of future growth and job creation will require, moreover, a foundation of better governance and a new social contract.

Building Effective Employment Programs for Unemployed Youth in the Middle East and North Africa

Building Effective Employment Programs for Unemployed Youth in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: Diego F. Angel-Urdinola
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2013-07-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0821399055

Given the labor market challenges that countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are facing (notably high unemployment, prevalence of skills mismatches, low labor market mobility, and lack of formal employment networks), employment services could be a relevant policy instrument to assist unemployed individuals to find jobs. Despite high and increasing unemployment rates, employers in the region are facing difficulties to find workers whose competences and skills fit their employment needs. The study first surveys international best practices for the delivery of employment services and then reviews the provision of these services in a selected group of countries in the MENA region, with a focus on public provision through existing public employment agencies. Findings indicate public agencies in the region face many challenges for the effective delivery of employment programs, namely poor administrative capacity,system fragmentation, lack of governance and accountability, regulation bottlenecks, and flaws in program design. In order to help unemployed workers to obtain the competences required by available jobs, this study proposes a reform agenda based on the development of strong partnerships between public agencies, public providers, and employers for the design and implementation of flexible employment programs that respond to real employment needs. These partnershipss will need to be developed with strong governance mechanisms that make beneficiaries, private providers, and firms accountable for making sure that investments in employment programs lead to employment insertion. The book is directed to policy makers, practitioners, economists, and anyone interested in international best practices to promote a more effective delivery of employment services.

Market Dynamics and Productivity in Developing Countries

Market Dynamics and Productivity in Developing Countries
Author: Khalid Sekkat
Publisher: IDRC
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2010
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1441912088

To what degree are trade liberalization, productivity, and economic growth correlated? Can economic policies designed to encourage competition and curtail industry protection result in large-scale improvements, such as increased innovation and reduced unemployment? After 20 years of economic reform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), economic performance is still lagging behind many regions of the world. Even in those countries that are the most advanced in implementing reforms, including Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia, industries with low productivity growth and high market power continue to dominate. Moreover, the termination of the Multi-Fiber Agreement and the negotiations concerning further liberalization of trade in agricultural products (under the framework of the World Trade Organization) put these and other countries under pressure of fierce competition from emerging nations. Recent empirical evidence on the impact of reforms in a number of developing countries shows that such persistence of inefficiency and market power is specific to MENA. Showcasing in-depth analyses from Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey (with comparative data from Asia and Latin America), this book focuses on the dynamics of firm entry and exit to help explain the low productivity of the region. The results suggest a number of policy recommendations designed to foster competition, which, in turn, would contribute to innovation, productivity growth, and improved return on capital investments. The book not only reveals important correlations among policy and market factors in MENA, but suggests fruitful areas of research in other developing regions of the world.

Challenges of Growth and Globalization in the Middle East and North Africa

Challenges of Growth and Globalization in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: Mr.Hamid R Davoodi
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2003-09-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781589062290

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an economically diverse region. Despite undertaking economic reforms in many countries, and having considerable success in avoiding crises and achieving macroeconomic stability, the region’s economic performance in the past 30 years has been below potential. This paper takes stock of the region’s relatively weak performance, explores the reasons for this out come, and proposes an agenda for urgent reforms.

Reforms and External Imbalances

Reforms and External Imbalances
Author: Rabah Arezki
Publisher:
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2019
Genre: Africa, North
ISBN:

World Bank economists expect GDP growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to continue at a modest pace of 1.5 percent in 2019, slightly down from 1.6 percent in 2018. The decline reflects a contraction in one large economy, which more than offsets growth in other countries. In the medium term, the World Bank expects real GDP in the MENA to grow at 3.4 percent and 2.7 percent in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The expected upswing is partially driven by ongoing policy reforms, as well as reconstruction efforts in some countries. However, MENA's modest recovery will be insufficient to change its historically low growth in per capita GDP. External factors are unlikely to pull the region out of its low-growth equilibrium. In addition, many countries in the region have persistent current account deficits. A recent deterioration in external balances across MENA constrained the region's ability to finance these deficits. Although the region has a low risk of experiencing sudden reversals in capital inflows in the short run, structural reforms capable of raising aggregate labor productivity are urgently needed to gradually reduce external imbalances. The report concludes by providing examples of reforms in fiscal policies, trade-related policies, social protection and labor markets, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in network industries.

Breaking the Barriers to Higher Economic Growth

Breaking the Barriers to Higher Economic Growth
Author: Mustapha Kamel Nabli
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 500
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821374168

The world's attention to the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has often been dominated by headline issues: conflict, sanctions, political turmoil, and rising oil prices. Little of this international attention has considered the broad range of development challenges facing this diverse group of countries. Breaking the Barriers reflects the collected thinking of the World Bank's Office of the Chief Economist for the MENA Region on the long-term development challenges facing the region and the reform priorities and strategies for effectively meeting these challenges. It.

Jobs for Shared Prosperity

Jobs for Shared Prosperity
Author: Roberta Gatti
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2013-04-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821397206

In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, when thousands of young women and men fought for the opportunity to realize their aspirations and potential, the question of jobs continues to be crucial in the Middle East and North Africa region. This report uses jobs as a lens to weave together the complex dynamics of employment creation, skills supply, and the institutional environment of labor markets. Consistent with the framework of the 2013 World Development Report on jobs, of which this report is the regional companion, this work goes beyond the traditional links between jobs, productivity, and living standards to include an understanding of how jobs matter for individual dignity and expectations—an aspect that was clearly central to the Arab Spring. Just as important, this report complements the economic perspective with an analysis of political economy equilibrium, with a view to identifying mechanisms that would trigger a reform process. As such, the report has three objectives: First, it seeks to provide an in-depth characterization of the dynamics of labor markets in the Middle East and North Africa and to analyze the barriers to the creation of more and better jobs. It does so by taking a cross-sectoral approach and identifying the distortions and incentives that the many actors—firms, governments, workers, students, education, and training systems—currently face, and which ultimately determine the equilibrium in labor markets. Second, the report proposes a medium term roadmap of policy options that could promote the robust and inclusive growth needed to tackle the structural employment challenge for the region. Third, the report aims to inform and open up a platform for debate on jobs among a broad set of stakeholders, with the ultimate goal of contributing to reach a shared view of the employment challenges and the reform path ahead.