Youth labor market vulnerabilities: evidence from Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia

What is it about?

Youth unemployment has been rising across the world for the past three decades. Youths who are employed are often forced to accept informal sector jobs that are insecure, unsafe and lack non-wage benefits. We analyze the static nature of vulnerable employment, and workers’ dynamic transition to decent work using longitudinal labor surveys, taking the case of the Middle East and North Africa. Youth unemployment in the region is the highest and fastest-rising globally, and work informality is also among the highest. Across Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, we find growing trends of vulnerable employment over time for all cohorts, but particularly for youths. In Egypt and Tunisia, children of poorer and less educated parents start out in vulnerable jobs and are unlikely to ever attain formal jobs. Wealth effects and parental education effects follow them throughout their careers.

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