No abstract

BACKGROUND Despite rapidly rising female educational attainment and the closing, if not reversal, of the gender gap in education, female labor force participation rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remain low and stagnant. This phenomenon is known as the MENA paradox. Even if increases in participation are observed, they are typically in the form of rising unemployment rather than employment. METHODS We use multinomial logit models, estimated by country, on annual labor force survey data for four MENA countries-Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia-to simulate trends in female participation in different labor market states (public sector, private wage work, non-wage work, unemployment, and nonparticipation) for married and unmarried women and men of a given educational and age profile. RESULTS Our results confirm that the decline in the probability of public sector employment for educated women is associated with either an increase in unemployment or a decline in participation. CONCLUSIONS We argue that the MENA paradox can be primarily attributed to the change in opportunity structures facing educated women in the MENA region in the 2000s rather than to the supply-side factors traditionally emphasized in the literature.

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No abstract

Several empirical studies have analysed the determinants of being in the informal sector. Most of these studies have focused on the effect of demographic and socio-economic factors such as level of education, regions of residence, skills acquired and gender and household characteristics such as parents’ education level. Other authors have found that institutional factors, such as corruption, regulations, legislation and tax burden can influence the decisions to undertake activities in the informal sector. More recent studies have also highlighted the effect of institutional trust (considered as informal institution) on the emergence of informality. This article attempts to explain the behaviour that motivates individuals to engage in the informal sector. It presents an empirical analysis of the determinants of being in informality for youth in the selected MENA countries (Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia) focusing on the effect of institutional trust. Our results confirm that the general level of young people’s trust in the different institutions is low. Furthermore, we note that youth’s trusts in institutions have a significant effect on the likelihood of being in informality. However, it seems to differ according to which institutions are considered and by which countries.