ERF held a special event on 'Labor Markets' chaired by Koç University's Insan Tunali on March 19 in the context of the 22nd Annual Conference. The session featured presentations by the University of Minnesota's Ragui Assaad, the University of Southampton's Jackline Wahba, Virginia Tech's Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, and Harvard University's Richard Freeman.
Assaad began the session by presenting on 'ERF’s Work on MENA Labor Markets Since its Inception.' He noted that Labor and Human Resource Development has been a central theme of ERF’s work since the Forum's inception in 1993, adding that ERF’s owes its success in this area to an integrated strategy that entailed providing greater access to high-quality micro data on labor markets and other human development topics; building researcher capacity in labor economics, applied micro-econometrics and policy analysis; and increasing the quality and volume of research on issues relating to labor markets and human resource development. He then went on to highlight the latest findings and analyses of LMPS data. Finally, Assaad concluded that while building research infrastructure is very important; it is not sufficient and must be accompanied by "capacity building, effective mentoring of young researchers, and peer review."
Next, Wahba presented on 'Migration and Informality: ERF's role.' She outlined ERF's achievements in the areas of migration and informality and noted that "ERF has played, and continues to play, a pivotal role in advancing the literature on migration and informality." She explained that ERF's provision of micro data, funding of research papers and projects, and its offering of training and capacity building allowed it to address prevalent knowledge gaps in the region.
Speaking next, Salehi-Isfahani presented on 'Human Capital in the Middle East and North Africa.' He tackled the issue of education and noted that it has stopped delivering on its promise of social mobility and that "reforms should focus on sharpening the signals of how skills are rewarded by private employers." Salehi-Isfahani recommended that policies should be adopted to improve job search and transitions from school to work and suggested that some behavioral approaches ought to be considered.
Finally, Harvard University's Richard Freeman presented on 'Problems and Research in MENA Labor Markets.' He went over the presentations of the previous speakers and praised their work in the field of 'Labor Markets.' Moreover, he suggested that future efforts should work on improving existing data sets and analysis by seeking to resolve debates by surveying the right people with the right questions instead of just relying on fancy models. He also recommended analyzing "the distribution of outcomes and responses for workers or firms along with their mean outcomes/responses as part of the heterogeneity in economic behavior," and encouraging "statistical agencies to combine worker longitudinal data with data on the firms for which they work to create employee/employer panel." Additionally, he suggested, among other ideas, that researchers use innovative techniques such as "webscraping" to gather data and recommended that they work "with macro/computer simulation modelers to analyze potential general equilibrium effects and develop counterfactuals for potential future or past changes in policy."
