Download or read book Creating Employment in the Middle East and North Africa written by Mr.E. H. Gardner and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2003-09-05 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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?"
Download or read book Infrastructure and Employment Creation in the Middle East and North Africa written by Antonio Estache and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2013-02-20 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Infrastructure has a substantial role to play in creating new jobs in the Middle East and North Africa, but its potential varies greatly across countries and sectors and will not suffice to resolve the mounting unemployment problem in the region.
Download or read book Jobs for Shared Prosperity written by Roberta Gatti and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2013-04-25 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Jobs Undone written by Asif M. Islam and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2022-07-06 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A decade since the spark of the Arab Spring, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continues to suffer from limited creation of more and better jobs. Youth face idleness and unemployment. For those who find jobs, informality awaits. Few women attempt to enter the world of work at all. Meanwhile, the available jobs are not those of the future. These labor market outcomes are being worsened by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 'Jobs Undone: Reshaping the Role of Governments toward Markets and Workers in the Middle East and North Africa' explores ways to break these impasses, drawing on original research, survey data, wide-ranging literature, and young entrepreneurial voices from the region. The report finds that a prominent reason behind MENA's unmet jobs challenge is a lack of market contestability in the formal private sector. Few firms in the region enter the market, few grow, and those that exit are not necessarily less productive. Moreover, firms in the region invest little in physical capital, human capital, or research and development, and they tend to be politically connected. At the macro level, economic growth has been mediocre, labor productivity is not being driven by structural change, and the growth of the stock of capital per capita has declined. New evidence generated for this report shows that the lack of dynamism is due to the prevalence of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). They operate in sectors where there is little economic rationale for public activity and they enjoy favorable treatment--flouting the principles of competitive neutrality. Meanwhile, labor regulations add to market rigidity, while gendered laws restrict women's potential. To change this reality, the state must reshape its relationship toward markets, toward workers, and toward women. The region must create a level playing field between SOEs and the private sector, replace labor rigidities with appropriate social protection and labor market programs, and remove barriers to women's economic participation. Governments can also foster new sectors and occupations, gradually propelling market contestability and job creation. All reforms will have to rely on improved data capacity and transparency to create a new social contract between governments and the people of the region.
Download or read book Jobs or Privileges written by Hania Sahnoun and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2014-11-18 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Policies that constrain private sector competition and job creation abound in MENA. Such policies are often captured by few privileged firms with deep political connections. The millions of workers who bear the brunt are often unaware of the adverse impact of these policies on the jobs to which they aspire.
Download or read book Challenges of Growth and Globalization in the Middle East and North Africa written by Mr.Hamid R Davoodi and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2003-09-05 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Striving for Better Jobs written by Roberta Gatti and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2014-09-12 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While economic growth has been sustained for a number of years in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, this has not resulted in the creation of an adequate number of jobs and has succeeded, at best, in generating low-quality, informal jobs. While there is a great deal of heterogeneity across countries, informality in MENA is widespread, and some countries in the region are amongst the most informal economies in the world. The book looks at informality through a human development angle and focuses specifically on informal employment. In line with this approach, the working definition for informality adopted in the book is “lack of social security coverage” (usually understood as pensions, or if a pension system does not exist, as health insurance), which captures well the vulnerability associated with informal employment. Informal workers in MENA are generally engaged in low productivity jobs - more so than in comparator countries -, are paid less for otherwise similar work in the formal sector, and self-report low levels of satisfaction at work. Also, informal workers in MENA face important mobility barriers into formal employment and thus lack of social security coverage against health, unemployment, and old-age risks. Formal employment in the MENA region is strongly associated with public sector employment. Opportunities for formal employment in the private sector in the region remain very limited. The book identifies 5 strategic directions to promote long-term inclusive growth and formality, namely: (i) fostering competition; (ii) realigning incentives in the public sector; (iii) moving towards labor regulations that promote labor mobility and provide support to workers in periods of transition; (iv) enhancing the productivity of informal workers through training and skills upgrading; and (v) reforming existing social insurance systems and introduce new instruments for coverage extension. This book is addressed to policy makers, academics, and practitioners who wish to understand the phenomenon of informal employment, and policy options for promoting more inclusive and productive labor market opportunities.
Download or read book Creating Employment in the Middle East and North Africa written by Edward H. Gardner and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 15 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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?"
Download or read book The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa written by Ana Paula Cusolito and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2022-05-02 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The argument that digitalization fosters economic activity has been strengthened by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Because digital technologies are general-purpose technologies that are usable across a wide variety of economic activities, the gains from achieving universal coverage of digital services are likely to be large and shared throughout each economy. However, the Middle East and North Africa region suffers from a “digital paradox†?: the region’s population uses social media more than expected for its level of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita but uses the internet or other digital tools to make payments less than expected. The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa: How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs presents evidence that the socioeconomic gains of digitalizing the economies of the region are huge: GDP per capita could rise by more than 40 percent; manufacturing revenue per unit of factors of production could increase by 37 percent; employment in manufacturing could rise by 7 percent; tourist arrivals could rise by 70 percent, creating jobs in the hospitality sector; long-term unemployment rates could fall to negligible levels; and female labor force participation could double to more than 40 percent. To reap these gains, universal access to digital services is crucial, as is their widespread use for economic purposes. The book explores how fast the region could approach universal coverage, whether targeting the rollout of digital infrastructure services makes a difference, and what is needed to increase the use of digital payment tools. The authors find that targeting underserved populations and areas can accelerate the achievement of universal access, while fostering competition and improving the functioning of financial and telecommunications sectors can encourage the adoption of digital technologies. In addition, building societal trust in the government and in related institutions such as banks and financial services is critical for fostering the increased use of digital payment tools.
Download or read book Employment Creation and Social Protection in the Middle East and North Africa written by Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran, and Turkey and published by American Univ in Cairo Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes and analyzes critical aspects of the labor market and social protection in the Arab world
Download or read book Unlocking the Employment Potential in the Middle East and North Africa written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2004 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Jobs Or Privileges written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Opening Doors written by The World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The report analyzes key challenges for improving gender equality in the MENA region and provides policy priorities that Governments could consider to address these challenges. By and large the critical areas are in improving economic and political participation of females.
Download or read book Opportunity for All written by MissCatriona Purfield and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-07-12 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication brings together a set of IMF papers that prepared as backgrounds for the various sessions of the conference and will help put into broader dissemination channels the results of this important conference. An official IMF publication is well disseminated into academic and institutional libraries and book channels. The IMF metadata will also make the conference papers more discoverable online.
Download or read book The Economic Development Process in the Middle East and North Africa written by Alessandro Romagnoli and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-11-12 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering a comprehensive analysis of the development of economies in the Middle East and North Africa over the past half century, this book charts the progress of these countries through an examination of an Islamic model of economic development, reform processes, and economic integration. Far from being a simple process, economic development in the Middle East and North Africa is dependent on the interaction of a set of changing systems including; international relations, the political regime, economy, and society. By analysing these interdependent factors, The Economic Development Process in MENA seeks to provide answers to the most pressing issues facing the economies in this area. Providing an interpretation of regional development in light of dialectics between state and society, this book will be of value to students and scholars with an interest in the Middle East, Economics, and International Relations.
Download or read book Women Work and Patriarchy in the Middle East and North Africa written by Fariba Solati and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-03-20 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates why the rate of female labor force participation in the Middle East and North Africa is the lowest in the world. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the book explains that the primary reason for the low rate of female labor force participation is the strong institutions of patriarchy in the region. Using multiple proxies for patriarchy, this book quantifies the multi-dimensional concept of patriarchy in order to measure it across sixty developing countries over thirty years. The findings show that Middle Eastern and North African countries have higher levels of patriarchy with regards to women’s participation in public spheres compared with the rest of the world. Although the rate of formal female labor force participation is low, women across the region contribute greatly to the financial wellbeing of their families and communities. By defining a woman’s place as in the home, patriarchy has made women’s economic activities invisible to official labor statistics since it has caused many women to work in the informal sector of the economy or work as unpaid workers, thus creating an illusion that women in the region are not economically active. While religion has often legitimized patriarchy, oil income has made it affordable for many countries in the region.
Download or read book Trade Investment and Development in the Middle East and North Africa written by Dipak Das Gupta and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a large potential for expanding trade in the Middle East and North Africa region. This work discusses ways forward for trade integration, capturing the diversity of country experiences within the region without losing the generality of principles involved.
