Jobs Undone: Reshaping the Role of Governments toward Markets and Workers in the Middle East and North Africa

A decade after the first spark of the Arab Spring, large shares of healthy and capable working-age populations remain excluded from the labor force and employment altogether in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This is most evident for youth and women. The share of employment that is informal varies within the region but remains notably high. This report analyzes the task content of jobs and finds that workers in those countries in the region where data are available, including Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, perform significantly fewer tasks that require nonroutine interpersonal and analytical skills, the jobs of the future in both the public and private sectors. The report showcases seven entrepreneurial young men and women from the Mediterranean to the Gulf who have built businesses and created jobs, especially in the digital space, despite difficult circumstances. In addition to this in-depth analysis of the region’s labor market and macroeconomic performance, the report makes three key contributions. First, the report’s conceptual framework provides an approach to explain how the region’s product market influences labor market outcomes. Second, this report offers a new glimpse into the evolution of the private sector over the years, using two rounds of the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) available for the first time for several economies in the region. Third, the report highlights the importance of understanding the policies and regulations that can hinder market contestability.