Jad Chaaban Authors New Paper on Job Creation for Arab Human Development Report Series
Jad Chaaban, contributing author to Generation in Waiting: The Unfulfilled Promise of Young People in the Middle East (Brookings Press, 2009) and author of "The Costs of Youth Exclusion in the Middle East," (2008) has authored a new study as part of the Arab Human Development Report Paper Series.
The paper, "Job Creation in the Arab Economies: Navigating Through Difficult Waters" (2010), notes that strategies to address the employment challenges facing Arab countries should begin by acknowledging the socioeconomic diversity across the region. Chaaban groups countries into six categories based on the interaction between hydrocarbon endowments, labor market characteristics, and also the degree of conflict or stability. He finds that labor abundant and labor exporting countries have the largest labor force. Unemployment rates are highest in conflict-afflicted and poor countries, and youth unemployment is a particular source of concern in these countries as well.
The paper evaluates employment generation strategies and policies in the region and concludes "youth have not yet gained the importance and attention they deserve in the policy making arena throughout the region." Chaaban presents several recommendations to enhance job-creating growth in the region, including focusing on the linkages between youth outcomes in the labor market and their social and economic exclusion in other venues.
