Summary

Lack of productive employment is one of the most pressing challenges of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). No other region in the world has such high rates of unemployment and underemployment. Policy makers across the region are concerned about the problem but have not yet been able to identify effective strategies to address it. Many academic publications and donor reports focus on the supply side of the labour market. Less analysis is available on what is happening on the production side of the economy. In addition, there is an emerging literature stressing the need of new industrial policies in the MENA region. Very few publications, however, focus on employment creation and promotion as a main goal of industrial policies.

During this workshop, experts on and from the region, including leading figures such as Ragui Assaad, Marc Schiffbauer and Adeel Malik, will debate about the influence of different economic actors, policies, industry sectors and policy tools on prospects for productive employment.

Call for papers

• Proposals (300-500 words) dealing with the topic in an innovative way
• Papers based on new empirical evidence from the region preferred
• Deadline of submission 30 June 2018
• Contacts: Tina.Zintl@die-gdi.de and Amirah.El-Haddad@die-gdi.de
• Travel costs and accommodation provided for successful applicants