São Paulo – The World Economic Forum disclosed two reports on job generation in the Arab world last week. The studies were made public during the organisation’s conference for the Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia, in Istanbul, Turkey. According to the Forum, the rate of unemployment among youths in the region is the highest in the world.
The reports point out the need for political and economic reforms in the Arab countries to fight the problem, considered chronic. According to the Forum the region needs to create between 80 million and 100 million jobs in one decade.
One of the studies, entitled Addressing the Youth Challenge, Perspectives on Youth Employment in the Arab World 2012, defends “social innovations” as an instrument to fight unemployment.
It covers themes like appreciation of women, the strengthening of civil society, access to credit, the economic agenda of Islamic parties, education and the need for a “paradigm shift” among governments in the region, who should change from job generators to providers of incentives for the generation of jobs. The strengthening of the private sector is a constant recommendation to the Arab countries by international institutions.
The other report, entitled The Role of Large Employers in Driving Job Creation in the Arab World, speaks mainly about the importance of large state-owned and private corporations in the training of labour.
According to the Forum, public power should join forces with other economic agents to identify the jobs in greatest demand, create programmes for training and attract investment to generate work posts. State-owned companies and large family-owned conglomerates are considered the “backbone” of important sectors in the region, like energy, mining and telecommunications.
*Translated by Mark Ament
