Jobs are crucial for individual well-being. They provide a livelihood and, equally important, a sense of dignity. They are also crucial for collective well-being and economic growth. However, the rules and the incentives that govern labor markets in MENA countries have led to inefficient and inequitable outcomes on the personal and collective standpoint. Several underlying distortions prevent a more productive use of human capital and have led to a widespread sense of unfairness and exclusion, of which the Arab Spring was a powerful expression.
This report offers a formula for seizing those opportunities.