Arab unemployment rate to remain at 7.3% until 2020: ILO

GENEVA - 14 February 2019: The International Labor Organization (ILO) expected a steady unemployment rate across the Arab region until 2020.

"Regional unemployment is projected to remain stable at 7.3 per cent until 2020, with unemployment in non-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries reaching double that of the GCC," said an ILO report on World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO).

According to the report, migrant workers account for 41 per cent of total regional employment, and in GCC countries more than half of all workers are migrants, on average.

The women’s unemployment rate, at 15.6 per cent, is three times that of men. Youth are also disproportionately affected and the youth unemployment rate is four times the adult rate.

New data gathered for the World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2019 (WESO) show that a majority of the 3.3 billion people employed globally in 2018 had inadequate economic security, material well-being and equality of opportunity.

Only 4.5 per cent of the region’s working age population is unemployed, with 60 per cent employed.

However, rather than indicating a well-functioning labour market, this is because many workers have no choice but to take poor quality work, lacking security, decent pay and social protection.

The labor force is projected to expand by more than 14 million per year, the organization added in its report that was published on its official website on Wednesday.

Economic growth rates until 2020 are expected to be too low to create enough quality jobs for this fast-growing labor force.