Unemployment in the Middle East; the Highest Rate in the World
Posted by cump on February 13, 2006
This issue is a reason why the Moslem problem will be a problem for a long time to come. It isn’t the West that is the problem for those in the Middle East and North Africa, it is their social structure, and their leaders. They have the money and the resources to improve themselves…they simply do not have the Democratic forms of government and society to funnel that wealth from the rich casts to the people themselves. As long as poverty and unemployement are endemic to the region, as long as there is a cast system, and as long as women are treated as less than second class citizens, there will be unrest in the Moslem world.
Unemployment in MENA – The Highest Rate in the World
The Middle East and North Africa [MENA] [2] stands out as the region with the highest rate of unemployment in the world. With an unemployment rate of 13.2 percent, the Middle East is ahead of sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest region in the world, which has the second highest rate of unemployment, 9.7 percent. The Arab League Economic Unity Council estimates unemployment in the Middle East (members of the Arab League only) at 20 percent. The number of unemployed people in MENA is particularly puzzling because the oil producing countries employ 7-8 million expatriate workers transmitting perhaps as much as $22 billion a year.
|
Labour Market Indicators |
||||||||||
|
Region |
Change in Unemployment Rate (percentage points) |
Unemployment Rate (percent) |
GDP Growth Rate (percent) |
Employment-to-Population Ratio (percent) |
Annual Labour Force Growth Rate (percent) |
Annual GDP Growth Rate (percent) |
||||
|
2000-2005* |
1995 |
2005* |
2004 |
2005* |
2006* |
1995 |
2005* |
1995-2005* |
1995-2005* |
|
|
World |
0.0 |
6.0 |
6.3 |
5.1 |
4.3 |
4.3 |
62.8 |
61.4 |
1.6 |
3.8 |
|
East Asia |
-0.2 |
3.7 |
3.8 |
8.7 |
8.0 |
7.5 |
75.2 |
71.7 |
1.0 |
7.6 |
|
South Asia |
0.2 |
4.0 |
4.7 |
7.1 |
7.1 |
6.4 |
58.9 |
57.2 |
2.2 |
5.8 |
|
Middle East and North Africa |
-0.7 |
14.3 |
13.2 |
5.4 |
5.0 |
5.3 |
44.2 |
46.4 |
3.5 |
4.4 |
*2005 are preliminary estimates, p=projections.
The table above, adapted from ILO Table 1, page 23, provides data on unemployment, employment to population ratio, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as a perspective in MENA within the broader global context.
