Labour market dynamics and youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa: Evidence from Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia

Abstract

Although it is well‐established in the literature that unemployment is a labour market insertion problem in the Middle East and North Africa, the dynamics driving unemployment remain poorly understood. Using data from the Labor Market Panel Surveys in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, we offer insights into youth unemployment by studying flows into and out of unemployment. Female youth and Tunisian youth of both genders are particularly likely to experience long periods of unemployment. Educated youth from higher socioeconomic status backgrounds are more likely to experience unemployment, but there is not a strong relationship between background and unemployment duration.

Unemployed Biotechnology Graduates: Need of Modernization of Education and Training in Tunisia

“…Other factors, which are considered determinants of working life, and that influence unemployment of young graduates include gender, marital status as well as location in the country. A recent study by Assaad & Krafft (2023) propose that both Tunisian men and women would experience unemployment in coming future. This situation represents a poor and bleak prospect for young Tunisians with higher education and technical university degrees that they would face difficulties in finding suitable permanent employment in labor market, which in turns develop sense of dissatisfaction among graduates (Flayols et al, 2019).…”