Lahcen Achy
Source: Getty
Trading High Unemployment for Bad Jobs: Employment Challenges in the Maghreb
Policy makers in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia should focus on improving the quality—rather than quantity—of jobs available to workers, in order to significantly improve the region’s economic outlook and global competitiveness.
While unemployment rates in the Maghreb have fallen over the last decade, the reasons behind the decline are troublesome: a slowdown in the growth of the working-age population and an increase in informal jobs without social protection. Plus, joblessness among the young and well educated remains high and is growing in some countries.
In a new paper, Lahcen Achy suggests that policy makers in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia should focus on improving the quality—rather than quantity—of jobs available to workers to significantly improve the region’s economic outlook and global competitiveness.
Recommendations for policy makers:
- Focus on the type of jobs added. Strategies should be pursued that create high-quality jobs and strengthen the competitiveness of exports in the global marketplace.
- Reform the education system. Education and vocational training must be improved but is likely to face resistance from those benefiting from the status quo.
- Strengthen labor regulations. Rigid and complex labor laws compel many businesses to establish informal arrangements with their workers. Regulations should be amended to protect workers in the informal economy and enhance oversight of employers to verify compliance.
- Improve labor policies. Currently costing too much money, offering too little coverage, and having limited impact, existing labor policies to help people enter the job market need to be rethought to upgrade their effectiveness and extend coverage to the most vulnerable segments of the unemployed.
“Declining unemployment rates in the Maghreb are misleading and should not be interpreted as a sign of an improved labor market,” Achy writes. Instead, he notes, Maghreb countries need a better strategy to “generate high and sustainable growth, create decent and high value-added jobs, and yet strengthen their competitiveness in a globalized world.”
About the Author
Former Nonresident Senior Associate, Middle East Center
Achy is an economist with expertise in development, institutional economics, trade, and labor and a focus on the Middle East and North Africa.
- Arab States Need Industrial Policy ReformIn The Media
- The Price of Stability in AlgeriaPaper
Lahcen Achy
Recent Work
More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- BIS in the New Age of Import ControlsCommentary
The Bureau of Industry and Security needs to adjust its focus and practices to maintain its position as the U.S. government’s primary champion of international technological competition.
Geoffrey Irving
- The Kremlin Can No Longer Postpone Hard Economic DecisionsCommentary
Depleted financial reserves and a shrinking tax base mean it is no longer possible to simultaneously deliver high defense spending, price stability, and economic growth.
Alexandra Prokopenko
- The Fallout of the U.S.–Canada Trade War Won’t Be Limited to North AmericaCommentary
U.S. trading partners in Asia are closely watching the dispute for signs of how it may affect their own interests.
Barbara Weisel
- The Two Key Takeaways From Xi’s Egypt VisitCommentary
Amid celebrations of bilateral ties was a deeper focus on stability in the Middle East.
Amr Hamzawy
- Is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Performance Art or Meaningful Collaboration?Commentary
Xi, Putin, and other regional leaders are back-slapping in Bishkek, but the SCO has yet to answer the most serious questions about continental Asia's economic future.
Evan A. Feigenbaum