1.
Introduction
The Arab Spring of 2010 has not yet turned to summer,
even after 14 years. The hopes of increased inclusion and life with dignity are
yet to come to fruition for many in the region. This is especially true for the
youth, who struggle to guarantee their futures and make the most of their
potential. In numbers, 21 million Arab youth are not in employment, education,
or training (NEET), which accounts for 1 in every 3 youth in the region (World
Bank, 2022). This is in comparison to a global average of 1 in every 5 youth
(ESCWA, 2020). Young women are particularly excluded with 43 percent of them
being in the NEET group compared to 19 percent of young men (ESCWA, 2020). When
looking at unemployment, many Arab countries suffer from a skills mismatch
between those offered by educational systems and those demanded by the job
market. The question is how can young people realize their full potential to
contribute as agents of sustainable development?
The topic is certainly not new. Yet, it is
increasingly gaining attention. The 2013 Cairo Declaration called for States in
the region to consider “training programs, using formal and non-formal
curricula, education, vocational and employment counseling, quality paid internships,
[and] social protection” (UNFPA, 2013). UN agencies organized a high-level
event in May 2022 on young people's learning, skilling, and transition to
decent work, aiming to address means of strengthening links between learning
and the labour market. At this event, 16 countries from the region committed to reforming the learning and labour systems to
ensure more effective and equitable outcomes for young people across the region
(UNICEF, 2023). At the Arab Forum for
Sustainable Development (AFSD) in March 2023, a side event was held on “Moving forward on the
learning-to-earning agenda in the Arab region”.
The labour market is rapidly evolving globally, and to
a lesser extent, regionally. With the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the labour
force skill profile will change dramatically across the skills spectrum, with
the proliferation of knowledge-intensive and innovation-based professions and
the continuity of jobs that cannot be automated (ESCWA, 2022a). The Arab region
is not well equipped to keep pace with this revolution (ESCWA, 2022a). Although
countries in the region are making efforts to adjust, they are still lagging.
For example, several countries have mentioned the importance of Technical and
Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in their national development plans.
Some others have included the right to vocational education in their
Constitutions (ESCWA, 2020). Nonetheless, the availability, quality, and focus
of these programs leave much to be desired. The hopes and aspirations of the
next generation are big and require more progressive and evidence-based policy.
In light of the context described above, one solution
is developing active labour market policies (ALMPs) that target youth. ALMPs encompass
a broad range of policies that are aimed at matching labour supply and demand, improving
worker productivity, and fostering job creation (ESCWA, 2012). ESCWA conducted
a review of ALMPs in the Arab region after the Arab Spring (ESCWA, 2012). Since
then, little scholarship has been published on the topic. The scholarship that
exists is largely piecemeal and there have been no significant attempts to
develop a regional overview of ALMPs for the Arab countries. This paper aims to
fill this critical gap. It offers a review of youth-targeted ALMPs in the
region, contributing to research on a critical policy tool to support youth
employment outcomes in a region in dire need of action on this front.
The article is structured as follows:
1.
First, it
explores the context of youth unemployment across the Arab region. This section
looks at the main reasons behind suboptimal youth employment outcomes in the
region.
2.
Second, it
reviews the status of youth-focused ALMPs in the region. This section offers an
overview of the programs in the region, delving into their nature, strengths,
and weaknesses. It offers a regional picture in addition to delving into case
studies of Egypt and Jordan.
3.
Finally, it
offers concrete policy recommendations for the way forward. These will have to
be adapted based on the contextual nuance of each country in the region.
Nevertheless, the recommendations offer a blueprint for how to proceed with
developing and implementing ALMPs that can help address the youth unemployment
crisis across the region.
1.1
Methodology
This paper employs a literature review and case study
approach. This involves reviewing the prevalent literature on the topic by surveying
academic journals and International Government Organization (IGO) knowledge
products. While most of the literature cited is quantitative, some employ a
mixed-methods approach, including qualitative data gathered through interviews.
To ground the research, this paper also delves into two case study countries,
Egypt and Jordan. These are chosen because they have substantial literature,
contrasting youth unemployment trends, and substantially different population
sizes. A key limitation of this approach is that the case studies are also
based on secondary research and both come from the Mashreq subregion. Nevertheless,
by combining these methods, the paper aims to present a robust and nuanced
exploration of the topic, highlighting broad trends and particularities.
2.
Context of Youth Unemployment in the Region
Any
society that does not succeed in tapping into the energy and creativity of its
youth will be left behind. —Kofi Annan
The Arab region is not heeding the call of former UN Secretary-General
(SG) Kofi Annan. As mentioned above, the share of Arab youth who are not in
employment, education, or training (NEET) is the highest in the world. Yet,
this is not the full picture. Indeed, according to the ILO (2020), over 85 percent
of youth in the region hold ‘informal’ jobs, which are often low-wage, and carry
limited benefits and opportunities for career advancement (ILO Regional Office
for Arab States, UNICEF Regional Office for MENA with the European Training
Foundation, 2023). Thus, there is a significant unemployment and vulnerable
employment challenge that youth face in the Arab region.
Demographic data show that the region is and will
continue to be a predominately young region (see Figure 1). The share of youth
(15-24) in the population stood at 17.2 percent in 2022 and is expected to
increase to 17.9 percent by 2035, which is considerably greater than the global
average of 14.9 percent (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF Regional
Office for MENA with the European Training Foundation, 2023). Yet, it will
decline to 15.6 percent by 2050.
There are substantial variations in the youth population by the sub-region (see
Figure 2). Using 2022 figures, this ranges from a low of 13 percent in the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC), to 15 percent in the Maghreb, to 18 percent in the
Mashreq, and finally to 20 percent in the Least Development Countries (LDCs) of
the region.
Looking forward, these proportions are projected to increase up until 2035 and
then fall afterward. The data thus further underscores the urgency of developing
and implementing youth-focused policies.
Fig. 1: Age
distribution for the Arab region (2022, 2035, and 2050)
Fig.
2: Sub-regional analysis of Youth/Share of
Total Population (2022, 2035, and 2050)
Figure
3 (World Bank, 2024) reveals several notable trends. First, there was a
consistent and gradual decline in the figures between 2003 and 2009, reaching a
low of just under 23 percent in that year. Second, youth unemployment was
quickly on the rise in 2010 and 2011, surpassing the 2003 number by 2012. Finally,
the data shows that youth unemployment in the region reached a high of just
above 30 percent in 2017 and 2020 before falling to 27 percent in 2022 and slightly
going up in 2023. It should be noted that the COVID-19 pandemic may have
affected these numbers and is still having lingering effects on unemployment
rates across the region.
Fig. 3: Youth
unemployment in the Arab region (2003-2023)
Going beyond the regional averages, which often mask
significant variation across countries, Figure 4 (ESCWA, 2022b) depicts the
youth unemployment rates by sex between 2001-2021 for 18 of the 22 Arab
countries. Several observations can be highlighted. First, female youth
unemployment rates are consistently and often substantially higher than male
youth unemployment rates across the region. Although some of this gap may be
attributed to increasing female labour force participation, which is positive, it
also reflects persistent structural inequalities and barriers that women face to
entering gainful employment. Only Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Qatar have
minimal gender gaps in youth employment. Second, the GCC sub-region exhibits
considerably lower youth unemployment rates. While other GCC countries have
successfully implemented policies and programs to integrate young people into
the workforce, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait continue to face challenges that impact
youth employment outcomes, especially for young women. Finally, most countries
in the region have witnessed a gradual yet steady rise in youth unemployment
over the past 20 years. This lack of progress is worrying and reflects broader
economic and structural challenges.
Fig. 4: Youth
unemployment by sex at the country level (2001-2021)
The data presented above heightens the urgency of
developing and implementing policy and programming solutions to empower this
critical demographic to contribute to and benefit from development. Indeed, the
burgeoning youth bulge means that dependency ratios are projected to decrease,
which can help alleviate economic pressure if the ‘demographic dividend’ is
well-managed. At the same time, it also indicates that the scale of the youth
employment challenge is large and requires substantial and swift action.
There has been increasing attention to better
understand the underlying dynamics behind high and persistent youth
unemployment and propose corrective actions. Initiatives such as the 2009
UNICEF and American University of Beirut collaboration on “Youth in the Arab
World” (ILO et. al, 2023) were pioneers in this regard. There has been heightened
urgency in recent years. For example, in May 2022, the UN-Arab States
Issue-Based Coalition for Adolescents and Youth organized the Regional
High-Level Meeting on Young People’s Learning, Skilling, Social Inclusion and
Transition to Decent Work, which concluded with commitments to work on
reforming the learning and labour systems to ensure more effective and
equitable outcomes for young people across the region (ILO Regional Office for
Arab States, UNICEF Regional Office for MENA with the European Training
Foundation, 2023). Additionally, the ILO and World Bank have collaborated on
several youth initiatives, including the Global Partnership for Youth
Employment,
which has a lot of activity in the Arab region, and Taqeem,
which aims to build program evaluation capacity in the region. Moreover, ESCWA
launched the Josour initiative in May 2022 to serve as a bridge between
key stakeholders in the private sector and talented young men and women looking
for opportunities in the Arab region.
There is no single explanation for the deficiencies in
activating youth in the economic sphere across the Arab region. Instead, there
are several critical shortcomings that collectively contribute to the
suboptimal youth employment outcomes prevailing in the region.
First, although education systems in the region have
been improving, they have prioritized access over quality. This is borne out in
data with the region having one of the highest rates of intergenerational
education mobility in the world (World Bank, 2022), yet also having over 90 percent
of respondents to the 2021 Arab Youth Survey having concerns about the quality
of education they receive (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF Regional
Office for MENA with the European Training Foundation, 2023). The concerns of
youth are well warranted given that international test scores from the Arab
region are lower than the global average. Moreover, Arab countries score poorly
on the Human Capital Index (HCI) of the World Bank (ESCWA and ILO, 2021). There
have been some promising reforms such as those in Bahrain, Egypt, Oman, and
Qatar, which have resulted in improvements in standardized international tests,
however, they have not been sufficient to lift scores above international
averages (ILO et al., 2023). Finally, given the heightened pace of
technological change and development, continuing education and training are
even more important. Yet, countries in the Arab region continue to neglect
these educational investments (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF
Regional Office for MENA with the European Training Foundation, 2023).
Second, the region has underinvested in career
guidance services and offers limited information to support youth in making the
school-to-work transition (ILO et al., 2023). Graduates and job-seekers in the
region often have to rely on their networks and means to find employment. This
is reflective of a job market that exacerbates existing socio-economic
inequalities. Indeed, data shows that 58 percent of unemployed youth in the Middle
East and North Africa (MENA) region depend on personal connections while less
than one in three registers with an employment centre to help them (Dimova et
al., 2016). Of the 22 Arab countries, only Egypt and Tunisia offer a full set
of employment services for their youth (World Bank, 2022). The informational
asymmetry between market demand and supply is a serious barrier to achieving
more optimal employment outcomes. The absence of widespread employment services
further amplifies pre-existing inequalities, with the most disadvantaged being
less likely to be able to rely on their personal networks to secure work
opportunities.
Third, there is a lack of opportunities to develop job
experience, which is often a requirement for many jobs. Indeed, less than two percent
of youth in the MENA region take up an internship before their first job, while
20 percent of unemployed youth cite their lack of work experience as the ‘main’
obstacle to finding a job (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF Regional
Office for MENA with the European Training Foundation, 2023). Some countries,
especially in the GCC, have attempted to circumvent this through the
implementation of programs to establish employment quotas for citizens. For
example, in Kuwait, nearly 25 percent of fresh graduates in business studies
were placed in managerial positions without having had any previous work
experience (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF Regional Office for
MENA with the European Training Foundation, 2023). This is neither a
sustainable nor efficient strategy for addressing the youth unemployment
problem. Moreover, even when they manage to secure a job, youth often face a
lack of opportunities for career advancement (ILO Regional Office for Arab
States, UNICEF Regional Office for MENA with the European Training Foundation,
2023).
Fourth, technical and vocational education and
training (TVET) systems in the region are underdeveloped. This is due to
several factors including lack of resources and outdated equipment. The curricula
of TVET systems are not well aligned with market needs given that they are not
typically developed in consultation with the private sector. They also suffer
from a shortage of capable trainers and social stigma against using such
services where they exist. Nevertheless, policymakers in the region have
recognized the potential for TVET to support youth employment. They have
initiated reform efforts at the strategic and institutional levels. For
example, in 2018 Lebanon adopted a national strategic framework for TVET,
Jordan established a Technical and Vocational Skills Development Commission
(TV-SDC) in 2019, and in 2021, Morocco launched the Strategy on Vocational
Education and Training. Despite this, more is needed to ensure that there is
effective and widespread implementation on the ground.
Finally, perhaps the single most important challenge
for tackling youth unemployment in the Arab region is the issue of job
creation, particularly in the formal private sector. Even where jobs exist,
there can still be problems of unemployment and underemployment. For example, unrealistic
expectations about salaries can drive job seekers to pass up jobs that they are
offered. One strategy to create economic opportunities for youth is to
encourage entrepreneurship. Although the number of start-ups has skyrocketed
with over 22,000 in the region today, compared to around 3,000 in 2017, the
share of young people engaged in start-ups in the MENA region is small at 9.2
percent (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF Regional Office for MENA
with the European Training Foundation, 2023). One constraint to their
entrepreneurial pursuits has been identified as a lack of access to finance. Only
34 percent of youth in the MENA region own an account, compared with 56 percent
globally (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF Regional Office for MENA
with the European Training Foundation, 2023).
3.
Youth Focused ALMPs in the region
Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) are one way to
empower youth to secure gainful employment.
ALMPs
are geared towards facilitating the match of labour supply and demand,
enhancing workers’ skills and productivity and fostering job creation. Their
overall aim is to allow for the efficient functioning of the labour market and
the full utilization of human resources to facilitate economic growth
(ESCWA, 2012).
Research has proven the merits of ALMPs to improve labour
market outcomes, especially in the longer term (Romero & Kuddo, 2019). A
review of 113 impact evaluations of global youth employment programs, found
that more than one in three of them had a significant positive impact on either
employment rates or earnings (Kluve et al., 2019). Impact evaluations have also
shown that ALMPs are most effective when implemented along with complementary
economic and social policies to support employment outcomes (ESCWA & ILO,
2021). This suggests that ALMPs are not a panacea on their own and depend on
many other factors for their success. This is to be expected given the scale of
the youth unemployment challenge in the region and its varied underlying
contributing factors. ALMPs are increasingly being used across the world. Indeed,
in the first half of 2020, 82 percent of all countries had some form of active labour
market policy in place (Ulku & Georgieva, 2022).
The good news is that the Arab region has much room
for improvement in both quality and quantity of ALMPs (World Bank, 2022).
Although reliable data is hard to come by, estimates show that spending on
ALMPs is roughly at 0.07 per cent of GDP across Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia
(Bird, 2020). This is in comparison with a global average of 0.50 percent of
GDP across developing countries (ESCWA & ILO, 2021). The lack of ALMPs in
the region was made evident during the pandemic, with the inability to quickly
roll out ALMPs to support employment outcomes during the COVID-19 crisis (World
Bank, 2022). Indeed, an analysis of the Youth Policy Database of ILO (spanning
from 1997-2017) found only seven documents from one Arab country (Chacaltana et
al., 2024).
Figure 5 (Ulku & Georgieva, 2021) shows the
comparison of ALMPs in the MENA region with other regions. The graphic reveals
the prevalence of training programs, vacancy databases, and job placement as
the three most common types of ALMPs employed in the region.
Fig. 5:
Comparison of ALMPs in the MENA region with other regions
The
ALMPs that exist in the region suffer from various shortcomings. This section
will cover some of these broadly but also look at two case studies, Egypt and
Jordan, to provide further insight into these dynamics.
4.
Regional Challenges
First, the potential for ALMPs to target those most in
need of support is not fully utilized. While broad-based ALMPs have merits of
their own, their targeting potential is substantial. Kluve et al.’s (2019)
systematic review found that ALMPs in middle- and low-income countries are more
successful and attributed this to targeting more vulnerable population groups
such as the low-skilled and low-income. Angel-Urdionla et al. (2013) found that
only 15 percent of ALMPs in the MENA region targeted low-income groups. This
seriously limits the potential benefits of ALMPs for the region given that the
most marginalized stand to benefit most from the opportunities provided by
ALMPs but they are not being given access to them.
Second, there is a lack of data on the efficacy of youth-focused
ALMPs in the region. A global review of youth-focused ALMPs in 2004 found no
single impact evaluation from the MENA region (Betcherman et al., 2004), while
a 2007 review found only 3 percent of ALMPs in the MENA having an impact
evaluation (Betcherman et al., 2007). Without rigorous evaluations, it is hard
to assess the efficacy of such programs which makes it challenging to adjust
them to ensure they are having maximum impact. This logic was behind the launch
of ILO’s Taqeem Initiative (mentioned beforehand) in 2009, which has
helped but is still not making enough inroads. The numbers show that only two percent
of MENA programmes in the Youth Employment Inventory had impact evaluations by
2014, still well below the average of 10-35 percent in other regions (ILO,
2015). The lack of proper monitoring and evaluation of youth-focused ALMPs in
the Arab region is a significant limitation for scholarship on the topic.
Third, policymaker communication with the private
sector is weak thus resulting in ALMPs that are not fully in tune with the
market demand factors. For example, a review of ALMPs in Jordan (ILO, 2017b)
concluded that skills training programs stand to benefit from a more
demand-driven approach and greater private sector involvement. Addressing the
skills mismatch in the labour market necessitates a collaborative
public-private partnership to better align supply with demand. The good news is
that some countries in the region have strengthened their ties with the private
sector by establishing sectoral skills councils to inform the government of the
skills needs of the market (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF
Regional Office for MENA with the European Training Foundation, 2023).
Fourth, a challenge has been to effectively integrate
ALMPs with social protection frameworks (Bird, 2020). This is a global problem
but one that is also seen in the Arab region. The initial review of ALMPs in
the region by ESCWA (2012), found that policy integration tends to be low. More
recent scholarship has stressed the importance of effectively situating ALMPs
within broader social policies to ensure that they have maximum impact (ESCWA &
ILO, 2021). Yet, the ALMPs in the region seem to be initiated and implemented
in an ad hoc manner, without due regard for other complementary programs. This
hampers their efficacy and limits their potential.
Finally, the efficacy of ALMPs in the region is hindered
by the lack of a broader conducive environment with economic and social
policies that support youth employment outcomes. The lack of dynamic private
sectors, weak access to finance for youth, and outdated formal curricula hamper
the ability of ALMPs to address the youth unemployment challenge across the
Arab region. The potential is still there but is limited without simultaneous
efforts to address structural barriers to youth employment. As section two made
abundantly clear, the youth unemployment problem in the region is complex and
it cannot be expected to be resolved through one intervention alone. Instead, a
holistic approach is required.
4.1
Country-specific ALMPs
In a panel series analysis across Egypt, Jordan, and
Tunisia, AlAzzawi and Hlasny (2022) find two significant results. First, youth
that enters the labour market in a vulnerable job are unlikely to progress to
better quality jobs over time. Second, family background (parental wealth,
education, and occupation) remains a strong determinant of labour market
outcomes. A study on youth-ALMPs in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia found
that a common challenge faced across these contexts was a lack of sufficient
job creation (Prince et al., 2018). The findings all urge caution and perhaps a
sense of humility about what ALMPs can realistically achieve in such contexts. Looking
at country-specific examples from the Arab region can help ground the findings
above and provide more concrete lessons learned challenges, and best practices.
In this section, the cases of Egypt and Jordan are highlighted given that they
have the most scholarship and data on the topic of youth-ALMPs.
4.1.1. Egypt
Egypt is the most populous Arab country with a
population of almost 111 million as of 2022, just above 17 percent of which are
youth (aged 15-24) (UN DESA, 2022). The percentage of youth is projected to
peak in 2033 at 18.77 percent before falling to 15.5 percent in 2050. In terms
of youth unemployment, the country seems to have had tremendous success since
2017, reaching a low of 15.6 percent in 2023 (see Figure 6). Yet, caution is
needed when interpreting this data given that youth labour force participation
fell during the same period, with less than one-quarter of young Egyptians
actively seeking work (ESCWA & Sawiris Foundation, 2024). Moreover, when
digging deeper into the data, the labour market is not well balanced with tertiary-educated
individuals facing the highest unemployment rates (ESCWA & Sawiris Foundation,
2024). This paradox highlights a mismatch between skills produced by the
education system and the demands of the labour market.
Fig. 6: Youth
Unemployment in Egypt (2003-2023)
In a country study, Assaad and Krafft (2017) identify
the decline in public-sector employment opportunities affecting the economic
opportunities for youth in the country. They also find that social class is
becoming an increasingly important predictor for private sector employment
outcomes. These reflect structural factors at play that may be beyond the remit
of ALMPs.
A review of youth-focused ALMPs in Egypt found that
the most common approach was to combine skills training with employment
services. Twenty-five percent of the 182 youth employment programs in ILO’s Youth
Employment Inventory (YEI) for Egypt adopted this approach (ILO, 2017a).
Meanwhile, 21 percent provided only skills training, 16 percent combined skills
training and entrepreneurship promotion, and 19 percent provided only
entrepreneurship promotion (ILO, 2017a). Looking at the target groups within
the 182 programs, only 10 percent of them targeted women and only 13 percent
targeted young people in rural areas only. This limits the potential for these programs
to help the most vulnerable and needy youth secure gainful employment.
In her review of ALMPs in Egypt, Barsoum (2018)
observes that civil society organizations (CSOs) play a leading role in the provision
of ALMPs. In a more recent paper, Barsoum (2021) finds that the multiplicity of
players involved in ALMPs, including government, quasi-government bodies, CSOs
with donor support, and the private sector, complicate coordination and lead to
fragmentation.
In terms of commitment and partnership, in March 2014,
representatives from Egypt’s Ministry of Planning and International
Cooperation, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Manpower and Migration
convened with representatives from the private sector, civil society, trade
unions, and development organizations to launch the Egyptian Forum for Youth
Employment Promotion (YEP) (Said, 2015). The participants coalesced around four
key priorities:
(1) The
introduction of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanisms for labour
market policies;
(2) The
provision of labour market information;
(3) The
provision of career guidance at an early stage; and
(4) Public
works programs.
The focus on M&E reflects the message throughout
this paper; the lack of information on the efficacy of ALMPs makes it challenging
to identify promising practices.
4.1.2. Jordan
Jordan has a population of just above 11 million as of
2022, almost 18.5 percent of which are youth (UN DESA, 2022). The percentage of
youth is projected to peak in 2027 at 18.8 percent before falling to 14.97 percent
in 2050. In contrast to Egypt, Jordan has seen youth unemployment continue to
rise in recent years, reaching a high of almost 44 percent in 2021 before
dropping slightly in the past few years (see Figure 7).
Fig. 7:
Youth unemployment in Jordan (2003-2023)
In terms of government commitment, under the culture
and youth pillar, Vision 2025 includes a focus on providing specialized
employment and training programs for the youth and mitigating the effects of
unemployment among young people (Jordan National Vision in
the ANDP UNESCWA website, 2015). This is
especially important in light of the dwindling of public sector jobs, which
remain the favoured choice for youth (ILO, 2017b). It should be noted that
despite cuts, the public sector remains the biggest individual employment
sector, accounting for roughly 40 percent of all employment (Alshyab, 2021). At
the same time, the delivery of public employment services is the responsibility
of the Employment Directorate within the Ministry of Labour, where there are
less than 100 staff serving the whole country (Alshyab, 2021).
There are several important contextual factors to
consider. First, the influx of a substantial refugee population increases
competition in the informal sector, which in turn affects the employment
prospects and conditions for youth (ILO, 2017b). Second, it is important to
address long-term unemployment, with the latest data showing that almost half
of the unemployed had been looking for employment for 12 months or more, with
women and youth suffering disproportionately from this (ILO, 2023). Finally, going
beyond looking at unemployment, data from 2021 reveals that Jordan, in line
with the regional average, has almost one in three youth aged 15–24 in the NEET
category (ILO, 2023). This figure is striking and highlights the urgency of
policy action to support youth employment outcomes.
An ILO review of 84 ALMPs in
Jordan revealed that skills training and employment service interventions were
the most common. They also found that two in three of the ALMPs combined
different program types (ILO, 2017b). In terms of actors involved, the
Jordanian government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are the two
primary implementers of ALMPs (ILO, 2017b; Alshyab, 2021). The private sector
also plays a role, leading to 27 percent of all ALMPs reviewed (ILO, 2017b). Similar
to Egypt, there is no mechanism for coordinating and supervising ALMPs (Alshyab,
2021). In terms of scale, the number of beneficiaries for the ALMPs varies
considerably, from fewer than 100 in some instances to several thousand in
others. As already seen in the case of Egypt, the majority of ALMPs in Jordan
fail to make effective use of targeting (ILO, 2017b).
5.
The Way Forward
The challenge of harnessing the skills, knowledge,
passion, and potential of youth to contribute to economic development is
global. Yet, the Arab region has had a harder time than other regions in
overcoming it. Part of the issue is the sheer scale of the challenge given the
demographics. Other factors include sub-standard educational quality, lack of
work experience opportunities, underdeveloped TVET systems, and inadequate or
inappropriate utilization of ALMPs. Reforms need to be made across the board.
First, the limitations of ALMPs need to be recognized.
They are only one piece of the puzzle and require complementary reforms to make
for a holistic approach to tackling youth unemployment. Without such an
approach, the potential contributions of ALMPs will be seriously limited, and
their sustainability in question. They are not a panacea but can be integral to
a broader effort to improve labour market outcomes for youth in the Arab
region. Having realistic expectations is thus critical, on the part of both
policy makers and youth themselves. This requires awareness raising and a
broader development program that effectively maximizes the potential benefits
of ALMPs alongside other policies.
Second, governments should focus on improving the
design and targeting of ALMPs to support the most vulnerable youth to make the school-to-work
transition. The case studies of Egypt and Jordan both revealed that targeting
is not effectively employed in either case. The increased resources and
attention on this topic are a good starting point. Yet, more is required. Arab
governments need to design ALMPs in consultation with both youth and the
private sector to ensure they respond to the needs of both groups. Moreover,
they should learn from global best practices and adapt them to suit their
contextual nuances. They also need to devote more investments to ALMP
development and implementation to support the school-to-work transition (ESCWA &
ILO, 2021).
Third, TVET systems in the region can benefit from
reform. Changes are needed to make them more in line with current economic
needs and to keep up with the quickening pace of labour market evolution (ILO
Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF Regional Office for MENA with the
European Training Foundation, 2023). Moreover, change is needed at the social
norm level to remove the stigma that people have towards TVET. In short, “TVET
needs to be a choice that students aspire to and work towards, not a place they
try to escape from” (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF Regional
Office for MENA with the European Training Foundation, 2023). This will require
deliberate action to establish TVET systems that adequately cater to youth
needs, are accepted by society, and can adapt to evolving market needs.
Fourth, progress is dependent on adequate assessments
of current programming to identify best practices to scale up, make changes
where needed, or terminate unsuccessful programs. Organizations working with
youth need to improve their monitoring and evaluation (M&E) efforts. The
M&E of youth-focused ALMPs in the Arab region is far less developed than in
other regions. More resources are needed upfront to ensure systematic and
rigorous M&E that can inform evidence-based policymaking. More capacity is
also required to establish systematic processes that inform program design, implementation,
and adaptation across the program life cycle.
Finally, both case studies revealed that more
coordination is needed to ensure youth policies have maximum impact. A
whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach can help ensure that no one
is left behind. This stakeholder engagement is critical for designing context-appropriate
ALMPs and ensuring their effective implementation and follow-through. One step
in this pursuit has been the establishment of Ministries of Youth in several
Arab countries. Yet, these ministries often lack the capacity and resources to
implement policies and offer services. Another step has been the establishment
of national youth strategies, and in some cases, even National Action Plans for
youth employment (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF Regional Office
for MENA with the European Training Foundation, 2023; ESCWA, 2019). Moreover,
the link between different types of policies is critical. There is currently a
significant disconnect between youth policy, employment policy, TVET policy,
and economic policy (ILO Regional Office for Arab States, UNICEF Regional
Office for MENA with the European Training Foundation, 2023). Aligning these
should be made a policy priority and will require the adoption of a truly
whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach to tackling youth unemployment.
6.
Conclusion
The situation of youth in
the Arab region is challenging in many ways. This paper has focused on their
economic activity (or lack thereof). The good news is that there is much room
for improvement and that youth in the region are endowed with several critical
foundations for success. First, despite challenges with educational quality,
the impressive intergenerational educational mobility in the region means that
youth in the region are significantly more educated than their parents. This
coupled with their ambition and passion means that there is a wide-ranging and
motivated segment of the population that is ready to make the most of the
opportunities that exist. Second, the increased attention on youth employment
as a policy priority and key strategy for unlocking development gains has
spurred additional research on the topic. This is critical to facilitating a
future where evidence-based policies are adopted to harness the potential of
youth to contribute to development. Third, the efficacy of well-targeted,
well-resourced, and well-designed ALMPs shows that they can have a substantial
impact on improving labour market outcomes for youth in the region, which can,
in turn, have significant development gains for individuals, communities, and
economies. The case studies of Egypt and Jordan helped to highlight potentially
important characteristics and cautionary pitfalls to avoid. Finally, this paper
has outlined several recommendations to guide the way forward but clearly, more
research is needed to support the charting of a new path that enables youth in
the Arab region to realize their potential in the economic realm.
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