Upload
others
View
2
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Education and Entrepreneurship to address
Youth Unemployment in MENA Region
Expert Group Meeting on
“Strategies for Eradicating Poverty to Achieve Sustainable Development for All”
United Nations, New York, 10-11 May 2017
MENA region: lack of job opportunities and widespread sense of exclusion
2011 2017
Demanding:• Freedom• Democracy• Dignity• Employment• Equal opportunities
Demanding:• …• …• Dignity?• Employment• Equal opportunities
Challenge: How to break this vicious circle?
Poverty and exclusion
Frustration Instability
Youth Unemployment
Question
What is the role of education and Entrepreneurship in addressing youth unemployment in MENA region?
Agenda
1. Youth unemployment in MENA region
2. Private sector is the only remaining option to create more jobs!
3. Why desirable private sector jobs are very few?
4. More and better Education for Youth Employment
5. Entrepreneurship as a Panacea to Youth Unemployment and Poverty
6. The way forward
Youth Unemployment
0.05.0
10.015.020.025.030.0
The Highest Youth unemployment by region
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%
Jord
an
Egyp
t
Tun
isia
More education Being employed
Basic education Tertiary
0
10
20
30
40
Egypt Jordan Morocco Tunisia Yemen, Rep.
Persistent
1990-1999 2000-2015 2016
Data: WDI + ILO
What options are available for young people to get a job?
High-paying and attached to a formal
contract or social security
Low pay No formal contract or social security
High-paying and attached to a formal
contract or social security
High risk
Public Sector
Formal Private Sector
Migration Abroad
Informal Private Sector
Jobs
Formal Private Sector the engine of job creation in MENA
It provides:
• Fair income
• Security at work place
• Social protection
• Prospect for personnel development and social integration
But,
• Very competitive
• Few jobs available
• No guaranteed job security
we need to get youth out of their comfort zone (the majority still prefer public sector)
Services are the engine of job creation!
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
World MENA Asia and the Pacific Latin America and theCaribbean
Sub-Saharan Africa
Services are the main provider of Jobs
Agriculture (%) Industry (%) Services (%)
Data: WDI
Why the desired private sector jobs are very few?
• Skill mismatches Education + Training
• Weak entrepreneurial culture Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
• Low productivity (+ reservation wage relatively high)
• Size of the market
• Labour market regulations
• Business environment
• Low competition and unequal opportunities
More education implies a greater likelihood of being employed and access to higher social status
But needs:
1. Higher quality education
2. Specific rather than general skills
3. Coordination between education institutions and potential employers with regards to placement of graduates
4. Incentives to limit brain drain
Education Achievement in the MENA: According to Arab Youth Survey 2017: 66% in North Africa think that the Education system does not prepare students for the job of the future
84
86
88
90
92
94
96
98
100
Egypt,Arab Rep.
Jordan Morocco Tunisia Yemen,Rep.
Literacy rate, youth total (% of people ages 15-24)
Higher
educatio
n and
training
Availability
of research
and training
services
Efficient
use of
talent
Country
capacity
to retain
talent
Quality of
math and
science
education
University-
industry
collaboration
in R&D
Egypt 3.2 2.7 2.5 2.9 2.6 2.4
Jordan 4.7 4.5 3.2 3.8 4.2 3.8
Morocco 3.4 4.0 2.9 3.4 4.0 3.2
Tunisia 4.1 3.5 2.5 2.7 4.4 2.9
Quality of Education ( 1 to 7)
0102030405060708090
100
School enrollment, secondary (% gross)
Poorest Richest Rural Urban
Morocco 53 8 49 16
Yemen 59 9 35 14
Egypt 18 2 13 6
Tunisia 19 1 12 2
Jordan 4 2 2 2
Percentage of pop living in education poverty
with less than 4 years of education for the age
group 20-24 years
Data: WDI + ILO + WGF + UNSECO
Inequality in access to Education
1 29 12
168 10
2331
42
2025
5359
67
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Morocco Yemen Egypt Tunisia Jordan
Tertiary completion rate (%)
Poorest Average Richest
3
12
20
5
13
33
9
26
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Yemen Morocco Tunisia
Learning achievement in Sciences (%)
Poorest Average Richest
6
2420
8
24
33
12
41
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Yemen Morocco Tunisia
Learning achievement in mathematics (%)
Poorest Average Richest
Data: Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO
1319
53
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Poorest Average Richest
Learning achievement in reading (Morocco)
Entrepreneurship as a Panacea to Youth
Unemployment and Poverty
• SMEs play a particularly important role in broad-based employment potential
• Given the diversity of the SME sector, it can accommodate a wide variety of skill sets and provide opportunities to escape poverty
• Promoting youth entrepreneurship could be an interesting option to address youth unemployment and poverty
• Entrepreneurship provides a pathway for self-employment and entry into formal markets
Entrepreneurship
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Governmentalsupport and
policies
Governmentalprograms
Basic schoolentrepreneurialeducation and
training
Post schoolentrepreneurialeducation and
training
Cultural andsocial norms
The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
MENA World
0.000
0.100
0.200
0.300
0.400
0.500
0.600
0.700
OpportunityPerception
Startup Skills
RiskAcceptance
Networking
CulturalSupport
OpportunityStartup
TechnologyAbsorption
Human Capital
Competition
ProductInnovation
ProcessInnovation
High Growth
Risk Capital
Entrepreneurship Index
Tunisia Jordan Morocco Egypt World
Data: GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor + Global Entrepreneurship Index
The Way Forward: Education
• MENA countries need to target skills development through improving the quality of education and training systems
• There is a need for better training programmes and private sector incentive schemes that help to fill the skills gap and to improve employability among youth :
1. Better tailored programmes are more successful in meeting the needs and abilities of specific groups
2. A combination of subsidized work experience and vocational training is the best strategy to deal with youth unemployment
3. A degree of obligation is desirable to maintain attachment to the labour market
4. Workers' and employers' organizations should be involved
The Way Forward: Entrepreneurship
• Work more closely with the private sector to support programs to disseminate entrepreneurship skills and to assist marginalized people to become entrepreneurs
• Create incentives for the private sector to integrate youth entrepreneurs into value chains
• Improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem:
1. Entrepreneurship training
2. Simplify procedures for starting and doing businesses
3. Make national policies more youth oriented, including labour market regulations
4. Support innovation
5. Better access to financial market (innovative financial products)
The Way Forward: Macroeconomic level
• MENA countries should adopt new industrial policy that could promote global competitiveness and labor-intensive growth
• Create effective engines for higher and sustainable growth to create adequate jobs for youth
• Invest in the key areas and underprivileged regions could, address regional inequality, release pressure on the big cities, and improve labor market efficiency
The way forward
• Labour-intensive growth model
•Invest in the key sectors and underprivileged regions
• Work more closely with the private sector
• Improving the quality of education and training systems
Fill the skills gap
&
improve the employability of
youth
Disseminate entrepreneurship
culture
Promote productivity and competitiveness
Address regional disparities
&
improve labor market efficiency.