International Labor Organization: unemployment is on the rise across Arab countries

The International Labor Organization (ILO) revealed that Arab countries have the highest and fastest growing unemployment rate among young people around the world.

In a recent report on “Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022…Investing in Transforming the Future of Youth,” the organization expected that the unemployment rate among young people in the region would reach 24.8% in 2022.

The report highlighted that the situation is worse for young women in the region, where the unemployment rate is at 42.5% this year.

This rate is nearly three times higher than the global average for female youth unemployment, cited as 14.5%.

The document added that youth unemployment rate in Africa, 12.7%, hides the fact that many young people have chosen to withdraw from the labor market completely, explaining that more than one in five young people in Africa were not in the circle of work or education or training (NEET) in 2020.

The report concluded that the pandemic has exacerbated the many labor market challenges facing young people across the world aged 15 to 24, who have experienced much higher employment losses than adults, and that since early 2020.

According to the same source, the total number of unemployed youth in the world is expected to reach 73 million in 2022, a slight improvement over 2021 (75 million), but this rate remains an approximate six million above the pre-pandemic level of 2019.

The ILO report pointed out that only high-income countries are expected to achieve youth unemployment rates close to 2019 rates, by the end of this year.

While unemployment rates in other countries are expected to remain higher than pre-crisis rates by more than one percentage point.

The report stated that young people are well positioned to benefit from the expansion of green and blue economies (ocean resources and their sustainable use), as an additional 8.4 million jobs could be created for youth by 2030 through the implementation of green and blue policy measures.

Directed investments in digital technologies can also absorb large numbers of young employees.

The report estimates that, by 2030, achieving universal coverage in broadband networks could lead to a net increase in employment of 24 million new jobs worldwide, of which 6.4 million will be filled by young people.

Martha Newton, Deputy Director-General for Policy Affairs at the International Labor Organization, said that the COVID-19 crisis revealed a number of shortcomings in the way government and the labor market meet the needs of young people, especially the most vulnerable groups such as first-time job seekers, school dropouts and recent graduates with little experience.

She highlighted that “what young people need most is efficient working labor markets with decent job opportunities for those who are already participating in the labor market, as well as quality education and training opportunities for those who have not yet entered them.”