Policy Briefs
The Impact of COVID-19 on Middle Eastern and North African Labor Markets: A Focus on Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises
No.
PB 60
Publisher
ERF
Date
October, 2021
Topic
J. Labor and Demographic Economics
In a nutshell:
- Among the four MENA countries we examine, only Egypt managed to maintain a positive growth rate of 1.5% in 2020. The economic contraction in 2020 ranged from 8.8% in Tunisia and 6.3% in Morocco to 1.6% in Jordan.
- In the contracting countries, the lockdown resulted in large losses in the second quarter of 2020, with varying degrees of recovery in the third and fourth quarters. The tourist and transport industries were the hardest hit.
- Our new data on firms shows that tourism-related industries were the most negatively affected with regards to closures, reduced hours, and income losses.
- Microenterprises were the most likely to be closed due to COVID-19. If open, micro and small firms were more likely to have reduced hours than medium firms.
- Small enterprises were more affected by revenue losses than either micro or medium enterprises, with the exception of Tunisia where microenterprises were more affected,.
- The most important challenge facing businesses across countries was the loss in demand, followed by access to customers due to mobility restrictions.
- From over half (Tunisia) to three quarters (Morocco) of firms reported not applying for nor receiving any government assistance, although less than a tenth (Tunisia) to a third (Egypt) said no government support was needed.
- Business loans were the most common types of support received and needed, but salary subsidies were also commonly received in Tunisia and mentioned as needed in both Morocco and Tunisia. Reduced/delayed taxes were the next most commonly mentioned needed measure in all four countries.
Authors
Caroline Krafft
Associate Professor of Economics, St. Catherine University
Research Fellows
Ragui Assaad
Professor of Planning and Public Affairs, University...
Research Fellows
Mohamed Ali Marouani
Associate Professor, Université Paris1-Panthéon-Sorbonne