The Arab region is home to some of the highest youth unemployment rates globally, with a need to create over 33.3 million job opportunities by 2030 to accommodate the large number of young people entering the job market each year.
To achieve this, Arab states must undergo a radical shift in their current education systems and curricula to align with the evolving and changing labor market.
This involves enhancing education systems, including skills training and technical and vocational education, strengthening ties between learning and the labor market, and promoting policies and exploring opportunities with the private sector to create jobs and support entrepreneurship among the youth. This is according to UNICEF, which has stated that current educational curricula in the Arab region do not equip young people with sufficient skills to succeed in today’s economy.
The youth unemployment rate in the region is nearly double the global average and has increased at a rate 2.5 times faster than the global average. According to a United Nations survey, the Arab region recorded a 12% unemployment rate in 2022, the highest in the world.
Levels of unemployment have continued to rise since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among Arab youth. It is likely that Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan, and Tunisia will face emerging challenges due to a weak global economy.
The demographic profile of youth in the Arab region means that more and more young people are entering the labor market annually, increasingly facing a shortage of job opportunities, as noted by researcher Bessma Momani in a report published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
In reality, surveys show that Arab youth are among the most frustrated with the political and economic situations in their countries. They often consider emigrating in search of better opportunities and a decent life that their countries have failed to provide.
Several factors contribute to the high unemployment rates in Arab countries.
Surveys reveal that Arab youth are among the most disheartened by the political and economic conditions in their countries (Al Jazeera).
Education Systems Out of Sync With the Labor Market
The current education systems in most Arab countries are not in sync with the advanced labor market and its changing nature. They do not provide young people with the essential skills crucial for success in today’s knowledge-based economy, as stated by Carnegie Middle East Center in a research paper that involved several specialists.
The study highlighted that “Arab governments still see education reform as a top-down effort that continues to sustain power relations and authoritarian thinking, leading to the marginalization of critical and creative thinking among students.”
The new skills required include communication, creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and the ability to deal with the ongoing automation demands and its different challenges across the world. According to a study by the World Economic Forum, reliance on machines across all job types is expected to rise to 52% by 2025.
The study found that half of the workers who will maintain their roles over the next five years will need to learn new skills. By 2025, employers are expected to divide work equally between humans and machines.
There will be increased demand for workers who can fill positions related to a green economy, advanced data jobs, artificial intelligence, as well as new roles in engineering and cloud computing, and product development and management.
The study points to a significant deficiency in Arab schools and universities in adopting and teaching these new specializations, and in equipping students with the fundamental and advanced skills needed by the global labor market.
The Corruption Conundrum
The International Anti-Corruption Monitor has released the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2022, which reviews performance records in transparency and combating corruption in 180 countries around the world.
Most Arab countries dropped in their rankings, with the region’s average score falling to a new low of 38 out of 100 on a scale where zero signifies a highly corrupt nation.
Syria topped the list of most corrupt Arab countries, followed by Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, and Jordan, respectively. In contrast, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia recorded the best scores in the region’s fight against corruption, according to “Al-Monitor.”
Arab countries recognize that corruption is a significant obstacle to development, akin to an epidemic that costs their economies billions of dollars annually due to a lack of serious political will for change and reform, and an active engagement from civil society and the media. This exacerbates the political instability in the region and hinders social and economic development, as previously reported by Al Jazeera Net.
Despite this, the state of many Arab countries has remained unchanged for decades, with combating corruption and holding the corrupt accountable remaining slogans touted by successive governments without the successful establishment of effective mechanisms to prevent the spread of corruption in various sectors.
Centralized Economies
Most Arab countries adopted a developmental path led by the state in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, Arab governments have become a primary source of employment, leading ultimately to the creation of bloated governmental institutions incapable of absorbing the large numbers of youth entering the market annually.
This approach led to increased youth unemployment, low skill levels, and long wait times between graduation and obtaining a first job in the public sector.
It has also led to inflexible labor markets dependent on the state for employment and a decreased role of the private sector in combating unemployment, exacerbating the problem.
Non-oil Arab states need to increase job opportunities to absorb the unemployed and new entrants into the workforce, and the long-standing high youth unemployment indicates that the problem is largely structural. Solving it requires sustained, high growth capable of creating jobs, underpinned by a sound economic environment free from corruption and central state control, and with invigorated private sector participation. Achieving this goal necessitates a comprehensive re-evaluation of current educational curricula and methods, incorporating specialties responsive to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and considering new challenges posed.
