This book describes and analyzes critical aspects of the labor market and social protection in the Arab world. The authors address the interrelationship between labor, human development, and social well-being in the Middle East and North Africa region -- an interaction that is viewed against the...

Labor regulations are important determinants of resource allocation, productivity, and labor market outcomes. They can protect workers’ rights, enhance job security, and improve working conditions. However, overly restrictive regulations can also increase business costs, becoming barriers to...

Youth unemployment, and unemployment, in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) countries are among the highest in the world. The tendency to generalize, however, is inappropriate as different groups of countries exhibit vastly different labor market outcomes and causes vary. The standard way of...

Marriage is a central stage in the transition to adulthood in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This paper builds on the existing literature on the effect of marriage on women's employment in MENA. Besides examining how different types of work are affected by early marriage (defined as...

This Fast Brief provides a general background on the main features of labor regulations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. This is part of an effort to understand employability constraints in MENA and to this end a World Bank team gathered information on labor legislation and...

The population of the Middle East and North Africa is one of the fastest growing in the world, but jobs have not grown as fast as the region’s workforce. This paper addresses questions such as""Can current GDP growth generate more employment, or will higher GDP growth be required?""and ""Will...