Employment and Decent

Work in the Arab Region

2015

Regional Coordination Mechanism (RCM) Issues Brief for the

Arab Sustainable Development Report

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Author: Shaza Ghaleb Al Jondi (jondi@ilo.org)

UN Coherence and Resource Mobilization Officer, Regional Programming Unit, International Labour

Organization (ILO)-Regional Office for Arab States, Beirut, Lebanon

This issues brief builds on earlier ILO background papers on the subject prepared by Aurelio Parisotto, Head,

Country Employment Policy Unit, ILO Geneva and Mary Kawar, Senior Employment Specialist at the ILO

Regional Office for Arab States. Extensive comments to this brief were also provided by Mary Kawar and

Emanuela Pozzan, Senior Gender Specialist at the ILO Regional Office for Arab States. In addition, Aya Jafar and

Myriam Massaad, Research Economists, provided overall and indiscernible support.

Reviewed by: UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNHABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme

ESCWA Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

Disclaimer: This issues brief was prepared as a background document for the forthcoming Arab Sustainable

Development Report. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of

the United Nations. Document issued as received, without formal editing.

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1. Introduction Transforming economies for quality growth and quality jobs has been a main theme in the discussions on the

post 2015 development agenda, setting the stage for the Open Working Group (OWG) proposal of a

sustainable development goal to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and

productive employment and decent work for all” (SDG 8). This global goal has been further strengthened

through linkages with other aspects of decent work, such as social protection and skills development under

other1 proposed goals.

In the Arab region2, the centrality of employment and decent work to the new development agenda and the

linkages with economic growth and social protection have also been strongly reflected in all post 2015

consultations that have taken place since 20133. These views result from the fact that despite some gains in

economic and GDP growth rates over the last two decades, overall, the Arab region has only made modest

progress in reducing unemployment. It was assumed that economic growth will trickle down and positively

improve the standards of living of all society. Unfortunately, this did not happen and, in many cases, it resulted

in increasing inequalities and modest progress towards poverty eradication; which in turn culminated in

citizens’ frustrations leading to the Arab uprisings.

While environmental threats and climate change have not been directly linked to the Arab uprisings, their

impact has been exacerbated by the underlying development failures, including poverty, unemployment,

inequality, and weak governance. Moreover, the continuous degradation of the already limited natural

resources has further aggravated social tensions and deepened conflicts in the region (for example,

competition for natural resources between host communities refugees). Green solutions that are part of a

broader policy to shift towards a green economy and promote green jobs4 remain an untapped area with

massive potential in the Arab region.

The aim of this issues brief is to reinforce, from an Arab regional perspective, the OWG proposal for having

SDG8, while specifically focusing on the employment and decent work aspects of this goal. Combined with the

brief on inclusive growth5, this paper will feed into the Arab Sustainable Development Report (ASDR) that is

being prepared by ESCWA with inputs from all relevant UN agencies. The first part provides an overview of

trends and progress made thus far in the Arab region in achieving the MDGs target on employment and decent

work (target 1b), while highlighting key challenges and gaps in reaching this target. The second section reviews

the proposed SDG8 and targets from an Arab perspective and highlights areas of specific relevance and priority

for this region, while identifying linkages with targets under other proposed goals. The conclusion provides

overall recommendations for SDG8 and its linkages with other goals.

2. Progress and trends

Target 1b Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including

women and young people

Indicators

Growth rate of GDP per person employed

Employment-to-population ratio

Proportion of employed people living below $1 (PPP) per day

Proportion of own-account and contributing family workers in total employment

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While there has been some progress on this target in the MENA region, an assessment of its indicators suggests

that this progress has not been sufficient enough making it unlikely to be achieved by 2015. Given the

heterogeneity of the region, it must be noted that progress towards achieving this target (similar to many other

MDG targets) has been mixed with significant disparities between sub-regions (Middle East versus North Africa,

Gulf Cooperation Council versus other sub-regions), countries, and males and females. The below section

reviews progress made on the four indicators; but also goes beyond them to provide a more holistic picture of

the status of employment and decent work in the region, providing a basis for discussing SDG 8 and its

proposed targets.

Labour force participation rate remains the lowest in the world, mainly due to the extremely low

participation of women

Despite some gains in job creation in the Arab region, women’s participation in the labour force continues to

be extremely low compared to men and to their female counterparts in other regions. As such, gains in

education attainments for girls did not significantly raise their participation in the labour force. Traditional

relations and influence of religious backgrounds on legal structures and social stereotypes, coupled with

gender bias macro-economic policies, lack of investments in social care services, poverty and lack of rural

development are some of the factors hindering women from entering the labour force6.

With around 70 per cent of the poor Arabs living in rural areas, along with other political and socio-economic

factors, the region witnessed a strong rural-urban migration leading to rapid urbanization and increased

pressure on employment and public services provided in these regions.7 This has in fact resulted in increased in

unemployment and underemployment rates in the urban areas with greater impact on women and youth.

FIGURE 1 LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE BY REGION, 1991-2013

-9.0%

1.3%

-0.4%

7.5%

-1.5%

-5.5%

-8.8%

4.2%

1.7%

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0

East Asia

SSA

SEAP

LAC

DE&EU

C/SEE (non-EU) &CIS

South Asia

Middle East

North Africa

2013 1991* The percentages show the rates of change between the years 1991 and 2013

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FIGURE 2 FEMALE LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE BY REGION, 1991-2013

Source: ILO Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM Database)8

Employment-to-population ratio is the lowest in the world, with a very slight increase over the last two

decades

Since the early 1990s, the employment-to-population ratio in MENA countries continues to be the lowest in the

world, only slightly increasing from 42.1% to 42.9% in the Middle East and from 41.8% to 42.8% in North Africa.

Youth employment-to-population ratio is low compared to other regions and decreased significantly between

1990 and 2013, partly due to improved schooling, which constitutes an important factor in delaying entry into

the labour market. Other reasons include the challenges that youth face in making the transition from school to

work, mainly due to labour market demand side issues, resulting in long waiting periods9.

61

71

59

42

5053

36

21

13

65 6359

54 5350

31

2419

8% -11% 0% 29% 5% -6% -15% 13% 47%

SSA East Asia SEAP LAC DE&EU C/SEE(non-EU)

& CIS

South Asia North Africa Middle East

1991 2013 % change

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FIGURE 3 EMPLOYMENT-TO-POPULATION RATIO BY REGION, 1991-2013

Despite some gains in economic growth, progress in reducing unemployment is still very modest and the rate

remains the highest in the world

Between 1991 and 2013, unemployment in the Arab region declined across Arab states, albeit unevenly10

; yet

the two sub-regions, at 11.1 in the Middle East and 12.3 per cent in North Africa A, still register the highest

rates in the world. This shows that the economic growth of 2 per cent per annum has been too low to

generate sufficient employment opportunities for the fast-growing population; even the jobs that were created

have mainly been in the informal economy.

FIGURE 4 UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY REGION (%), 1991-2013

35.0

40.0

45.0

50.0

55.0

60.0

65.0

70.0

75.0

80.0

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

East Asia

SEAP

SSA

LAC

World

C/SEE (non-EU) & CIS

DE&EU

South Asia

Middle East

North Africa

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

18.0

North Africa

Middle East

DE&EU

C/SEE (non-EU) & CIS

SSA

LAC

East Asia

SEAP

South Asia

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Unemployment in the region continues to be mainly influenced by extremely high youth and female

unemployment rates

Youth unemployment in MENA countries remains the highest in the world, reaching 28 per cent in the Middle

East and 30 per cent in North Africa in 2013. This is more than twice as high as the global average. The lack of

proper economic policy making is leading to this accumulation of high unemployment rates, which remains the

most crucial challenge facing the region. It must be noted, however, that youth unemployment rates differ

across countries registering in 2013 around 18.5 per cent in Morocco, 24 per cent in Algeria, 20.6 per cent in

Lebanon, 38.9 per cent in Egypt, 33.7 per cent in Jordan, 28.7 per cent in Saudi Arabia, 38.3 per cent in the

Occupied Palestinian Territory and 31.2 per cent in Tunisia11

.

FIGURE 5 YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY COUNTRY (%) 2013

51

39 38

34 3431

30 30 29 28

25 24

21 21 20 19

10

2

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FIGURE 6 YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY REGION, 1991- 2013

Issues of gender equality in employment have been given little attention in development and economic

planning, thus resulting in very low performance of gender equality economic indicators in the region. . In

2013, data showed high female unemployment rates (around 21 per cent compared to a world average of 6.4

per cent) and a large gender unemployment gap (around 9 per cent for men compared to 21 per cent for

women).

1991 2013

FIGURE 7 UNEMPLOYMENT RATES BY GENDER AND REGION, 1991- 2013

28

24

20

15

1213 13

911

3028

18 18

13 1312

10 10

8% 16% -10% 21% 16% 1% -14% 13% -4%

North Africa Middle East C/ SEEe (non-

EU) & CIS

DE&EU SEAP LAC SSA East Asia South Asia

1991

2013

% change

11.0

9.4

10.7

5.6

7.4

6.8

6.0

4.1

4.6

5.3

22.1

21.3

10.4

9.3

9.2

8.0

6.6

5.5

5.1

4.0

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0

North Africa

Middle East

C/SEE(non-EU) & CIS

LAC

SSA

DE&EU

World

South Asia

SEAP

East Asia

Female Male

8.7

9.3

8.6

6.7

8.3

5.2

5.7

3.6

4.1

5.2

21.8

21.5

8.4

8.3

7.8

7.6

6.4

4.7

4.4

3.7

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0

Middle East

North Africa

DE&EU

SSA

C/SEE(non-EU) & CIS

LAC

World

South Asia

SEAP

East Asia

Females Males

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FIGURE 8 UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY COUNTRY AND GENDER (%) 2013

Share of vulnerable employment in total employment is relatively low, except for Arab women.

The proportion of workers in vulnerable employment12

is low in the MENA region compared to most other

regions, and with the exception of East Asia, has been declining at the fastest speed. However, the share of

women in vulnerable employment, compared to men, is the highest in the world, and has increased over the

last two decades. Women in North Africa are also more vulnerable than their counterparts in the Middle East,

one of the main reasons being that in the former there are more women in agriculture than in the latter. More

specifically, women in North Africa have rates of vulnerability of 56.6 per cent compared to 29.7 per cent in the

Middle East13

.

2.03.6 4.0

1.7 2.10.7

2.2 2.0 1.1 0.92.3

17.0

7.3

1.63.7

1.33.1 3.9

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

Male Female ratio of female unemployment to male unemployment rate

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FIGURE 9 SHARE OF VULNERABLE EMPLOYMENT AS % OF

TOTAL EMPLOYMENT BY REGION, 1991- 2013

FIGURE 10 SHARE OF WOMEN IN VULNERABLE EMPLOYMENT

COMPARED TO MEN BY REGION (%), 1991-2013

The share of working poor is relatively low, but has declined slowly over time

The share of employed people considered as working poor is low in the Middle East and North Africa region

compared to most other developing regions; yet with the exception of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, have

witnessed the slowest decline over the last two decades.

FIGURE 11 SHARE OF WORKING POOR IN TOTAL EMPLOYMENT BY REGION, 1991-2013-

80 81

69 68

42

37 37

18

13

77 76

59

45

37

32

25

20

10

-3% -6% -14% -35% -12% -13% -33% 8% -24%

SSA South Asia SEAP East Asia North

Africa

LAC Middle

East

C/SSE

(non-EU)

& CIS

DE & EU

1991 2013 % change

96 96

118 115 115107

132

161

120

75

99

117113

109101

126

180

121

-23% 3% -1% -2% -6% -6% -5% 11% 1%

DE&EU C/SEE

(non-EU)

CIS

East Asia SEAP South

Asia

LAC Middle

East

North

Africa

SSA

1991 2013 % change

7

81

73

86

1712

30

73

3

13

29

62

7 7

14

62

-58% -84% -60% -28% -62% -40% -55% -15%

1991

2013

% change

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Labour productivity gains in the past decade have been the lowest among developing regions

Labour productivity in the MENA region is improving, but it still lags behind all other developing regions. In fact

over the last decade, 2003-2013, average labour productivity growth in North Africa and the Middle East was

lower than any other developing region (1.1 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively), despite the fact that these

two regions have moved from as low as 0.6 per cent and 0.1 per cent respective average annual productivity

growth rates over the decade 1992-2002.

FIGURE 12 LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH BY REGION

Rapid and deep decline of wage shares in GDP

Though the wage share has declined in practically all world regions since the early 1990s, what makes the Arab

region different is the speed and depth of the decline, especially in North Africa, where the wage share fell by

more than 34 per cent since 1998. Although data does not exist for the Arab region, the decline in wage shares

is usually sharper for the low-skilled workers, while their high-skilled counterparts could be actually

experiencing an increase in their wage shares. This leads to greater social and income inequality with the poor

becoming poorer and more vulnerable.

7.2%

3.1%

-1.2%

2.4%

-0.3%

1.4%

0.2%

0.1%

0.6%

1.9%

8.0%

5.5%

3.8%

3.4%

2.3%

2.2%

1.5%

1.2%

1.1%

1.0%

-2.0% 0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0%

East Asia

South Asia

C/SEE (non-EU) & CIS

SEAP

SSA

World

LAC

Middle East

North Africa

DE&EU

average labour

productivity growth over

the period 2003-2013

average labour

productivity growth over

the period 1992-2002

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FIGURE 13 WAGE SHARE AS % OF GDP (INDEX 1998=100)

Source: ILO/UNDP report

Social protection: limited coverage

Despite the long tradition of solidarity, effective social security coverage in the region remains low as most

social insurance systems cater only for public and private sector workers with regular contracts. Effective old-

age pension coverage and effective coverage of unemployment benefits are second lowest in the world after

Sub-Saharan Africa (see below figures). Other categories of workers are excluded from legal social security

coverage. High rates of informality, low female labour market participation and high levels of unemployment

further contribute to the effectively low coverage. A World Bank Study conducted in 2012 in seven Arab

countries showed that Informal employment (% of employed with no access to social security) was

considerably high ranging from 44.2 per cent in Jordan to as high as 91.4 per cent in Yemen14

.

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FIGURE 14 EFFECTIVE OLD-AGE PENSION COVERAGE BY

REGION

FIGURE 15 EFFECTIVE COVERAGE OF UNEMPLOYMENT

BENEFITS RATIOS

Source: ILO World Social Protection Report 2014/1: Building economic recovery, inclusive development and social justice.

Note: Figures correspond to the latest available year

Great deficits in the area of social dialogue

Social dialogue, where it existed, has not been fully institutionalized or sustained. There were no effective

channels of communication between governments and citizens that would enable their voices to be heard and

solutions to be agreed.

3. Analysis of Proposed SDG and Targets from an Arab Perspective There is real potential in combining employment and decent work with inclusive economic growth under the

proposed single SDG 8, since no sustainable job creation can occur in the absence of economic growth.

However, it would be wrong to assume – as done in the recent past – that higher levels of output would

automatically lead to the number and quality of jobs that are needed for economic transformation and social

inclusion. Many poor people are already at work, but their chances to remain poor are high. Inclusion,

moreover, has many more dimensions that are of concern to public policy than just poverty reduction. This

includes gender inequalities, income inequalities across households, urban-rural imbalances and perceptions

about fair chances for social mobility.15

When focusing on sustainable development, opportunities offered by

the transition to a Green Economy and related green jobs should also be a part of the policy mix in support of

employment and decent work.

52%

17%

30%

37%

47%

56%

90% 90%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

64%

22%

28%

7%5%

3% 3% 2%

12%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

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Significant progress under the new agenda will require a combination of policies to promote economic growth

through productive investment, private sector development and economic diversification and undertaking

legal reforms and improving labour market governance, while at the same time ensuring that the jobs

generated are quality jobs- i.e. provide those who can access them with a genuine chance to get out of

poverty.

8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women

and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for

work of equal value Full and productive employment is the situation where all available labour resources of an economy are used in

efficient ways. The ILO Convention on Employment Policy No. 122 (1964), ratified by 13 out of the 22 Arab

countries, provides the global reference for full employment policies and the setting of targets in this area. The

Convention calls upon member States “to declare and pursue, as a major goal, an active policy designed to

promote full, productive and freely chosen employment”.16

As it concerns employment targets at the country level, variations in unemployment rates are generally used to

assess job gaps as well as the health and stability of an economy and the need for policy change in developed

economies, as mentioned above. In the MENA countries, unemployment rates are particularly high, and yet,

they are still not very representative since they fail to fully reflect the degree of underutilization of labour

resources and the informality of work. Consequently, the employment to population ratio (EPR) by gender and

age group should be used to assess employment outcomes. However, taking into consideration the high rates

of informality in many MENA economies, it is highly recommended to include the indicator on share of

informal employment in total employment, which has been recently been proposed by the international

community through the Delhi Group on Informal Sector Statistics on the. The use of this indicator would help in

getting more accurate measures of employment.

It will be particularly important to address gaps in statistical capacity in the MENA region.

A modest investment in labour market information systems could yield great benefits in terms of better policy

design and implementation. In fact, countries in the region still face highest unemployment levels in the world

for both youth and adults, males and females. Policies are not always leading to the expected outputs and

monitoring, evaluation and analysis capacities are still weak. This is to a great extent caused by the weak labour

market information systems that do not provide the right signals, given the unavailability of regular, coherent

and comprehensive labour market data, in addition to the lack of analytical capacities and skills. It is thus

urgent to address the gaps related to the availability and quality of LMI and develop further the analysis of the

currently existing data on the labour demand and supply. Major gaps include, among others, the lack of data

and information related to skills needs and mismatches between educational outputs and labour market

demands as well as unavailability of consistent data on employment patterns that would allow not only

comparisons over time but also across the different countries and regions.

Addressing the gender gaps in labour market outcomes is crucial when tackling employment issues.

As shown in the previous section, gains in women’s education did not significantly raise their labour force

participation rates. Moreover, the gender pay gap is still a major issue in most MENA countries. Women

generally earn lower salaries than men even when performing similar jobs. The labour market in the MENA

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region is highly segmented. Women face severe horizontal and vertical segregation. For instance they are

strongly encouraged to either work in the public sector or in jobs that are socially accepted. As long as women

continue to face limited job opportunities , high gender wage gaps, , limited social care services, exclusion

from social protection systems (including maternity protection), , the access to decent and productive jobs for

all will not be attained.

In addition to the conventional labour market indicators women e.g. the employment to population ratio (EPR)

or the share of women in wage employment, which if disaggregated by gender, do provide a picture of broad

trends in the labour market situation, complementary indicators are needed to guide policies to address

discrimination and inequity, e.g. unpaid care work, excessive hours, types of contract and earnings.

8.6 By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education

or training Youth in the MENA region have the highest unemployment rate in the world and very low participation rates.

Additionally, an important share of youth in the region is not in education, employment, or training.

In order to design inclusive labour market policies, it is essential to understand the specific situation of young

people in labour markets. Although this situation is strongly dependent on the overall labour market, young

men and women face additional barriers in their school to work transition. In fact, when there are not enough

jobs, young people are the ones who are most likely to become vulnerable workers, discouraged or

unemployed. In the post 2015 agenda, it is therefore essential to address this target in an integrated manner,

through general labour market policies with specific targets for young men and women. As such, the linkages

with SDG4 on education is essential, particularly the targets related to vocational education (4.3) and technical

and vocational skills for youth, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship (4.4).

8.7 Take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of

the worst forms of child labour, eradicate forced labour, and by 2025 end child labour in

all its forms including recruitment and use of child soldiers In the Arab region and according to the ILO, it is estimated that about 15 per cent of all children are child

laborers. The real level may however be much higher, as the majority of the children who work are actually in

the informal sector, which is difficult to measure. Child trafficking is also alarming in the region and has

reached very high levels. Different countries have different measures to address this issue and the ILO

International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) is strongly supporting the governments of

Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen to adopt and implement an explicit child labour policy and to directly

withdraw children from child labour in line with the objective to reach an end to the worst forms of child

labour by the year 201617

.

The serious adverse health and developmental consequences of child labour not only constitute serious

violations of the rights of the individual children concerned, but also have broader negative consequences for

national social and economic development. It is clear that the realization of the other targets under SDG 8,

including decent work for all, will not be possible in countries where child labour persists.

Fighting child labour has always been one of the ILO’s priorities when tackling matters related to decent work.

In fact, two of the ILO core conventions focus on child labour, namely the Minimum Age Convention (C138) and

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the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (C182). All the Arab countries except Somalia have ratified

Convention No. 138 and all of them have ratified Convention No. 182. Despite the high level of ratification,

implementation of these conventions remains a key challenge in the Arab region. But in order to address the

phenomenon in a comprehensive manner, there is a need to improve statistical data on the prevalence and

determinants of child labour in the Arab states. Insufficient statistics also applies to forced labour in the region.

Therefore, improving statistical data collection on child labour and forced labour should be an essential first

step and means of implementation for reaching this target.

8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments of all

workers, including migrant workers, particularly women migrants, and those in

precarious employment Equitable and sustainable development can only be fully realized if the rights of all workers, including migrant

male and female workers and workers in the informal economy are adequately protected.

Informal and precarious employment

By definition, workers in informal jobs face deficits in the protection of their labour rights. Without written

contracts of employment or registration with social security schemes, they fall outside the reach of the State

machinery. Without an explicit protection of their labour rights, informal workers’ capacity to shape their

working conditions through individual or collective action is also undermined. Informal workers also face a

deficit in respect of social security. In many Arab states, workers in the informal economy comprise a significant

portion of the labour force.

With regards to means of implementation, the first step is to recognize the heterogeneity of informal activities.

For example, for informal workers who are able to capture the majority of the value-added they produce (e.g.

self-employed producing directly for the domestic market ), interventions that increase labour productivity

may help raise living standards. Targeted policies could include access to credit and capital, educational

programs for skill enhancement, and infrastructure development (e.g., electrification). However, for wage

workers in the informal economy a focus on productivity improvements as a strategy to raise living standards

could be far less successful if it is not complemented with measures to extend social protection, improve

working conditions, enforce core labour rights and minimum wages.

In order to promote a gradual transition to formality, the ILO calls for integrated policies that attack the

multiple drivers of informality, including: job-rich growth, improvements in regulations, strengthening the

organization and representation of informal economy workers, promoting entrepreneurship, skills, finance,

extension of social protection, and local development strategies.

Migrant workers

On their part, migrant workers do not yield the dividends from international labour migration with the result

that they are frequently “left behind”, being subject to abuses in the migration process, lower wages, poor

working conditions and deskilling. In the GCC countries, migrant workers constitute an almost 62% share of

migrant workers in the Gulf labour market18).

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A number of tools exist at the global level that could assist Member States in designing and implementing

labour migration policies to better protect migrant workers. In the ILO, these tools comprise international

labour standards, including the widely ratified eight fundamental rights conventions, specific instruments to

protect migrant workers such as Conventions Nos. 97 and 143 and those addressing regulation of private

employment agencies (Convention No. 181) and protection of domestic workers (Convention No. 189), which

include a large proportion of migrants in certain regions/countries, as well as supervisory mechanisms. The ILO

Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration containing non-binding principles and guidelines for a rights-

based approach to labour migration can also serve as a useful tool to stimulate the development of appropriate

policies and actions in this regard.

As a means to protect labour rights for all workers as proposed under target 8.8, an indicator on international

labour standards can be proposed, for example number of countries that have ratified relevant International

labour standards and whose national legislation provides for equality of treatment in respect of employment

(e.g. wages, working conditions, hours of work, social security benefits, skills recognition, unionization). From

an Arab perspective, it is important to focus not only on the ratification of conventions, but also on the

implementation of those conventions and how they are reflected in national legislation.

4 Conclusion and the way forward Achieving decent work within the post-2015 framework should be seen as “a dynamic process of successive

improvements in wages, working conditions, labour institutions and standards of employment and social

protection that is related to the structural transformation of an economy”, a process that in turn spurs further

transformation through a virtuous circle of expanding inclusive growth, growing economic formalization,

sustained aggregate demand, stronger job creation and poverty eradication. It should be matched with action

to achieve the targets on social protection floors, skills development and workers’ fundamental freedoms

under the corresponding goals on poverty, education and institutions, in order to ensure that all dimensions of

decent work are tackled simultaneously, with social dialogue a main means of implementation. A major shift

should also be taken into consideration in addressing barriers that hinder women to enter the labour market

thus reviewing macro-economic policies with a view to include women into development and economic

planning.

Yet, for the goals and targets to be actually met rather than remain as statements of intentions, it will be

extremely important to introduce mechanisms for accountability and regular monitoring of progress in

implementation. The effective participation of the social partners (workers and employers’ organizations, in

addition to the government) – at national, regional and global levels – will be especially important to ensure

progress toward inclusive growth and better employment and decent work outcomes.

From an Arab perspective, upgrading institutions and capacities for decent work in the post-2015 will be

especially relevant at some key steps in the national policy processes to localize and implement the SDGs: align

the goals within a long-term national development vision and strategy; set up mechanisms for inter-

government coherence and coordination across economic, social and environmental agencies; an inclusive and

participatory policy process where social partners are main players; and the significant strengthening of

national capacities for labour market data collection, analysis and dissemination.

17 | P a g e

5. Flagship reports and major resources • ILO and UNDP (2012). Rethinking Economic Growth: Towards Productive and Inclusive Arab

Societies, Beirut, ILO ROAS.

• UN and League of Arab States (2013). Arab Millennium Development Goals Report: facing

challenges and looking beyond 2015, Beirut, ESCWA.

• ILO, “Global Employment Trends 2014: Risk of a jobless recovery?”, Geneva, 2014.

• ILO Concept Note No.1, “Jobs and livelihoods at the heart of the post-2015 development agenda”,

November 2012.

• ILO Concept Note No.2, “Jobs and Livelihoods in the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Meaningful

Ways to Set Targets and Monitor Progress”, May 2013.

• ILO Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM) Database.

6. Endnotes 1 In this paper, the Arab region refers to the Middle East and North Africa sub-regions for which the ILO Key Indicators of the Labour

Market (KILM) data is available. 2 Throughout the report we refer to the Middle East and North Africa regions. According to the ILO, the Middle East includes “Bahrain,

Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, West Bank and Gaza Strip and Yemen” and North Africa

includes “Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia” 3 This is evidenced in the 2013 Arab Development Forum, My World Survey, 2012 Arab MDG Report, and the series of meetings

organized by the League of Arab States on the SDGs for the Arab region in 2013 and 2014. 4 Green jobs are defined by the ILO as “decent jobs that contribute to preserve or restore the environment, be they in traditional sectors

such as manufacturing and construction, or in new, emerging green sectors such as renewable energy and energy efficiency”. 5

The brief on Inclusive growth is brief is being prepared by ESCWA and UNDP. 6 ILO Background paper “jobs and Employment in the Psot-2015 Development Agenda submitted to the League of Arab States

Conference on Arab Sustainable Development Priorities in the Post 2015 Agenda, Amman, 10-11 May 2014. 7 Ben Jelili, R. “The Arab Region's Unemployment: Problem Revisited”. Working paper. The Arab Planning Institute.

8 The source of data in all figures in this paper is ILO KILM database.

9 UN and League of Arab States (2013). Arab Millennium Development Goals Report: facing challenges and looking beyond 2015.

10 ILO and UNDP (2012). Rethinking Economic Growth: Towards Productive and Inclusive Arab Societies, Beirut, ILO ROAS.

11 ILO KILM.

12 Vulnerable employment refers to the sum of own-account workers and contributing family workers.

13 The vulnerability rate is the ratio of this sum to all those in employment, including employers and employees. The majority of these

workers tend to be engaged in the informal economy and operate outside the formal social insurance system. 14

The percentage for the other five countries assessed are as follows: 56.2 per cent in Lebanon, 58.3 per cent in Egypt, 66.9 per cent in

Iraq, 71 per cent in Syria, 81.9 per cent in Morocco, and as high as 91.4 per cent in Yemen. 15

See issues brief on SDG 10: Reducing Inequality within and among countries: Inequality Challenges in the Arab region, Draft,

21/11/2014 16

Convention C122 - Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122). 17

ILO. Available at: http://ilo.org/ipec/Regionsandcountries/arab-states/lang--en/index.htm 18

Towers Watson. “The Implementation of Labour Quotas in the Gulf Cooperation Council”. September, 2013.