This report sheds light on major labor market issues and challenges that Morocco faces. It is the first phase of the programmatic jobs program jointly undertaken with the government of Morocco. The report is a jobs diagnostic that analyzes microdata mainly from Labor Force Surveys and employs new analytical methods to identify the main trends in the labor market. The key challenges that emerge will provide the basis for a deeper analysis and policy formulation in the next phase of this program. "Morocco’s Jobs Landscape" identifies four priorities: accelerate structural transformation to create more and better jobs in higher-productivity sectors, encourage formalization and improve the quality of jobs, increase female labor force participation, and address youth inactivity and its long-term consequences. Morocco has made significant economic progress over the past 20 years, which has raised the living standards of its people. However, Morocco’s economic growth has not been labor-intensive enough to absorb its growing working-age population. It has had a low capacity to generate jobs, and the rate of job creation slowed after the 2008 financial crisis. Morocco is trying to overcome the “middle-income trap,†? which has been preventing its convergence with more affluent middle-income countries. The government of Morocco has called for a new inclusive development model. The new model must address regional development imbalances, facilitate inclusion for youth and women, and continue to foster labor force skills upgrading. The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant safety measures have halted or slowed economic activity, which is worsening the labor market situation. The pandemic undoubtedly complicates prospects for jobs-led growth, and it will make the challenges highlighted in this report even more urgent and deserving of policy makers’ attention.

Unemployment and underemployment are global development challenges. The situation in Ghana is no different. In 2016, it was projected that, given the country’s growing youth population, 300,000 new jobs would need to be created each year to absorb the increasing numbers of unemployed young people. Yet the employment structure of the Ghanaian economy has not changed much from several decades ago. Most jobs are low skill, requiring limited cognitive or technology know-how, reflected in low earnings and work of lower quality. An additional challenge for Ghana is the need to create access to an adequate number of high-quality, productive jobs. This report seeks to increase knowledge about Ghana’s job landscape and youth employment programs to assist policy makers and key stakeholders in identifying ways to improve the effectiveness of these programs and strengthen coordination among major stakeholders. Focused, strategic, short- to medium-term and long-term responses are required to address current unemployment and underemployment challenges. Effective coordination and synergies among youth employment programs are needed to avoid duplication of effort while the country’s economic structure transforms. Effective private sector participation in skills development and employment programs is recommended. The report posits interventions in five priority areas that are not new but could potentially make an impact through scaling up: (1) agriculture and agribusiness, (2) apprenticeship (skills training), (3) entrepreneurship, (4) high-yielding areas (renewable energy†“solar, construction, tourism, sports, and green jobs), and (5) preemployment support services. Finally, with the fast-changing nature of work due to technology and artificial intelligence, Ghana needs to develop an education and training system that is versatile and helps young people to adapt and thrive in the twenty-first century world of work.

While economic growth has been sustained for a number of years in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, this has not resulted in the creation of an adequate number of jobs and has succeeded, at best, in generating low-quality, informal jobs. While there is a great deal of heterogeneity across countries, informality in MENA is widespread, and some countries in the region are amongst the most informal economies in the world. The book looks at informality through a human development angle and focuses specifically on informal employment. In line with this approach, the working definition for informality adopted in the book is “lack of social security coverage” (usually understood as pensions, or if a pension system does not exist, as health insurance), which captures well the vulnerability associated with informal employment. Informal workers in MENA are generally engaged in low productivity jobs - more so than in comparator countries -, are paid less for otherwise similar work in the formal sector, and self-report low levels of satisfaction at work. Also, informal workers in MENA face important mobility barriers into formal employment and thus lack of social security coverage against health, unemployment, and old-age risks. Formal employment in the MENA region is strongly associated with public sector employment. Opportunities for formal employment in the private sector in the region remain very limited. The book identifies 5 strategic directions to promote long-term inclusive growth and formality, namely: (i) fostering competition; (ii) realigning incentives in the public sector; (iii) moving towards labor regulations that promote labor mobility and provide support to workers in periods of transition; (iv) enhancing the productivity of informal workers through training and skills upgrading; and (v) reforming existing social insurance systems and introduce new instruments for coverage extension. This book is addressed to policy makers, academics, and practitioners who wish to understand the phenomenon of informal employment, and policy options for promoting more inclusive and productive labor market opportunities.

"Young people are particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in economic trends. Youth employment is therefore high on the policy agenda of those concerned with promoting social inclusion. While youth-targeted employment policies tend to combine both demand-side and supply-side approaches, it is important to recognise that traditional notions of "work" have more recently been challenged and reconceptualised. The old assumptions about gender roles, "job security" and "planned careers" have thus been transformed by the profound economic and social changes of recent decades. The essays collected here were developed from papers first delivered at a research seminar on youth employment organised by the partnership between the Council of Europe and the European Commission in the field of youth. They represent a diverse and, at times, provocative collection of analytic snapshots of the position of young people on the European labour market. What emerges is a shared commitment to finding flexible responses to economic globalisation and a concomitant concern for promoting the rights, interests and welfare of young people in both training placement and in the workplace."--P. [4] of cover.

What role does the informal economy have to play in SDG implementation? The chapters collected here by a range of scholars explore this question in detail; examining case studies and presenting empirical evidence based on both qualitative and quantitative assessment.

Morocco 2040: Emerging by Investing in Intangible Capital documents the major economic and social strides made by Morocco over the past 15 years and analyzes the economic conditions for accelerating the pace of economic catch-up by 2040. A virtuous yet realistic scenario suggests that with higher productivity gains Morocco could double its current pace of convergence with Southern European countries. In one generation, Morocco’s standard of living could reach about 45 percent of that of Spain, its immediate Northern neighbor, compared to the current rate of 22 percent. To lay out the possible pathways for Morocco to become the first North African country to attain upper middle income status, the Book then investigates the policies that could bring about such a virtuous scenario of accelerated economic convergence. It shows that sustaining higher productivity gains for 25 years would require greater efforts at building Morocco’s institutional, human and social capital—what is also known as intangible capital. Accumulating such intangible capital necessarily take a number of different forms and the Book proposes a four-pronged approach. First, by strengthening Morocco’s market institutions for a more efficient allocation of capital and labor and international integration. Second, by strengthening Morocco’s public institutions to strengthen the rule of law and justice, modernize the public administration, and improve the quality of public service delivery. Third, by strengthening Morocco’s human capital, especially education, health and the development of early childhood. And fourth, by strengthening Morocco’s social capital through greater gender parity and increased interpersonal trust and civism in society. By placing more of a priority on its intangible capital, Morocco would be advancing a social contract based on the promotion of a more open society. It would be taking a route that is partly new, but which is also the logical outcome of many economic and social diagnoses and pressing calls for change.

As fertility rates decrease, a country’s working-age population grows larger relative to the young dependent population. With more people in the labor force and fewer children to support, a country has a window of opportunity for rapid economic growth if the right social and economic investments and policies are made in health, education, governance and the economy. Conversely, research shows that resource requirements to support a large population of children and youth can depress the pace of economic growth and prevent needed investments in human capital. The discourse on responding to this population growth frequently excludes the youth. The result can be an apathetic community of young people who withdraw from participation in political and democratic processes. The book is a compilation of articles that address the issue and highlight solutions from different parts of the world, from members of the Global Diplomacy Lab to external contributors: how they see their work promoting, enhancing and contributing to harvesting the demographic dividend.