ASSESSMENTS

Youth Unemployment: The Middle East's Ticking Time Bomb

Feb 28, 2018 | 16:33 GMT

Five million workers are set to enter the Middle East's job market each year, even as gainful employment is in short supply.

An Iraqi man works at a brick factory near the central Iraqi shrine city of Najaf during May 2017.

(HAIDAR HAMDANI/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

With labor markets in the Middle East and North Africa swamped due to a baby boom, countries in the region will continue to face the acute challenge of massive youth unemployment.
Though each state struggles with its own circumstances, most countries will face daunting hurdles as they try to build strong private sectors.
Even if these states do foster more robust private sectors, they may not be able to mitigate the economic hardship when it hits their citizens, due to the uncontrollable nature of the free market.

Earlier this month, Dubai hosted the World Government Summit, welcoming dignitaries from around the world for talks on global happiness. But amid all the discussions of evermore contented societies lurked a more pressing issue right on the Emiratis' doorstep: the prospect that 5 million workers are set to enter the Middle East's job market each year, even as gainful employment is in short supply. That, at least, was on the mind of Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who once more exhorted Arab governments to address youth unemployment -- and fast. No one was about to disagree. From Morocco to Iran, states and leaders of all sects, political systems and governing systems understand the threat posed by the region's high youth unemployment....

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