After an unprecedented global economic downturn, recovery is beginning to take hold across the world. Nevertheless, the downturn has heightened the core challenges that countries faced before the crisis took hold. Among these, one that stands out in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) is youth employment or a lack of it.
Simply put, the region is facing unparalleled demographic pressures. Population growth over the past two generations has been among the fastest in the world: the region's workforce is projected to reach 185 million in 2020, 80 per cent higher than in 2000. And, the region is one of the most youthful in the world with about 60 per cent of the population less than 25 years old.
But employment growth has lagged far behind the demands of a growing population. Job creation must therefore be a top policy priority going forward. With growth in the region having dropped to 2.2 per cent last year from 5.3 per cent in 2008, and likely to recover to only 4.5 this year, the task of overcoming youth unemployment has become more difficult.
Solutions
The responsibility for finding policy solutions rests first and foremost with the governments of the region. Indeed, over the past 18 months, governments have done a good job of softening the impact of the global crisis, in part through prudent financial and economic management.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has worked closely with the countries of the Mena region in recent years to devise policies that can spur strong and sustainable economic growth that is essential to creating employment.
But the economic challenges of the next generation also require a broader engagement one that must include the young people who will inevitably be called upon to address these challenges as they enter into business, government, academia and other walks of life.
The IMF has set out to establish a broader effort to work with the young people of the region to help define forward-looking solutions and, to this end, is launching a Middle East Youth Dialogue a series of roundtable discussions with students from renowned universities across the region.
Share questions
From Morocco to Egypt, and the UAE to Pakistan, IMF staff will sit down with the next generation of leaders to discuss the policy measures needed to secure sustainable economic growth that, in turn, will help generate new employment opportunities.
This new initiative includes the establishment of a webpage (www.imf.org/youthdialog) and social networking site (www.imfyouthdialog.org) where young people of the region are encouraged to transcend their own borders by sharing their questions, concerns, and visions of their economic futures.
These first steps take place as countries of the Mena region begin to rebuild the momentum of growth to help their citizens fully benefit from the opportunities of the 21st century. And that includes the youth whose future we all will depend on.
Masoud Ahmad is the Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund
