Dissemination of the Second Regional Report on Jobs and Growth in North Africa (2018 -21): Developments through the COVID-19 Era

FromOct 24, 2022 To Oct 25, 2022

Online Webinar

The relationship between economic growth and job creation has long been a key focus of economic research. The experience in North African countries over the last generation confirms evidence from elsewhere: growth does linearly deliver jobs. Yet, a decade of high growth in the 2000s had not addressed imbalances in labour markets. After a deep slump in the first part of the 2010s, growth bounced back in the second part of the decade only to witness the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020.

Policies for job-rich growth need to be informed by an understanding of labour market dynamics that goes beyond looking at just unemployment rates. The ILO/ERF first Report on Jobs and Growth in North Africa (2021) presented two decades of harmonised labour force survey data computed across a broad series of key indicators to capture job quantity and quality trends for women and men across age groups and educational attainments. These cross-country time series were considered in conjunction with aggregate and sectoral GDP trends in the region. The report highlighted how market liberalisation and sharp reductions in public-sector employment in the 2010s have not resulted in significant private sector formal employment growth. Output and employment growth concentrated in non-tradeable sectors with low productivity and precarious working conditions, mostly in construction, trade and accommodation and restaurants. The output and employment shares of manufacturing and high-end services have not expanded, indicating countries in the region are not set on sustained structural transformation path.

The Second Regional Report on Jobs and Growth in North Africa, work that’s produced by ERF and ILO (ADWA’ project) in collaboration with NSOs, updates the time-series data from official sources to track jobs and growth dynamics. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these long-standing challenges have been further accentuated, with those most vulnerable more exposed to job and income losses. Survey data from the region collected by ERF and ILO in 2020 and 2021, allows to provide a detailed account of the complex labour market dynamics the pandemic has affected in the region. The report includes a regional overview and four country chapters covering Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan. The combination of a macroeconomic and labour market perspectives shed light on a range of policy dimensions, including countercyclical management, the public investment mix, boosting private investment, structural transformation, human capital and education, and social protection.

Webinar Objectives & Setting

The event will take place online over two days to present the key findings of the “Second Regional Report on Jobs and Growth in North Africa (2018 -2021): Developments through the COVID-19 Era”. The webinar series will start off with the presentation of the key findings of the overview chapter of the report, presenting a comparative analysis of key indicators and labour market trends in the region. This will be followed by the first country-focused session presenting the results of the analysis in Tunisia. On the second day, country focused sessions continue with presentations of the chapters on Morocco, Egypt and Sudan taking place in three separate sessions.

Register here!

Download the Agenda: In English | In French | In Arabic

Read the full report

The webinars and reports are supported by the project “Advancing the Decent Work Agenda in North Africa (ADWA’)”, implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The project aims to promote job-rich growth, International Labour Standards (ILS) and their application at the enterprise level. It works at the policymaking level in order to support evidence-based decisions on key dimensions of the Decent Work Agenda.

Oct. 24
Oct. 25

Agenda

Day 1

Date

24/10/2022

Location

Online Webinar

Time

From 3:00 pm To 6:00 pm

Register here!

Download the Agenda: In English | In French | In Arabic

Speakers

Research Fellows

Ibrahim Elbadawi

Managing Director, Economic Research Forum

Speakers

Dorothea Schmidt-Klau

Head of Department Management and Coordination Unit,...

Speakers

Maria Selin

Head of Regional Development Programme, Embassy of...

Research Fellows

Ragui Assaad

Professor and Freeman Chair for International Economic...

Authors

Caroline Krafft

Associate Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs,...

Research Fellows

Mohamed Ali Marouani

Associate Professor of Economics, Sorbonne University

Research Fellows

Nader Kabbani

Senior Fellow and Director of Research, Middle...

Speakers

Luca Fedi

Technical Specialist, Employment and Productivity, ILO Employment...

Speakers

David Robalino

Senior Advisor for McKinsey´s Development Economics Practice

Research Fellows

Mongi Boughzala

Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Tunis...

Speakers

Passainte Atef

Program Officer, Economic Research Forum

Research Associates

Khaled Nasri

Researcher, Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management...

Speakers

Sami Silini

Central Director of Social Affairs of the...

Speakers

Asma Ben Hassen

Founder and President, Tunisia Inclusive Labor Institute...

Speakers

Chafik Ben Rouine

President of the Tunisian Observatory of Economy

Speakers

Rym Ben Slimane

Director and Representative of the National Observatory...

Papers

Policy Briefs

Jobs and Growth in North Africa during the COVID-19 Pandemic

In a nutshell: Decent work was a challenge for North African labour markets even pre-pandemic,... Read More