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The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continues to suffer from limited creation of more and better jobs. Youth face idleness and unemployment. For those who find jobs, informality awaits. Few women attempt to enter the world of work at all. Meanwhile, the available jobs are not those of the future. These labor market outcomes are being worsened by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 'Jobs Undone: This publication explores ways to break these impasses, drawing on original research, survey data, wide-ranging literature, and young entrepreneurial voices from the region. The report finds that a prominent reason behind MENA's unmet jobs challenge is a lack of market contestability in the formal private sector. Few firms in the region enter the market, few grow, and those that exit are not necessarily less productive. Moreover, firms in the region invest little in physical capital, human capital, or research and development, and they tend to be politically connected. At the macro level, economic growth has been mediocre, labor productivity is not being driven by structural change, and the growth of the stock of capital per capita has declined. New evidence generated for this report shows that the lack of dynamism is due to the prevalence of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). They operate in sectors where there is little economic rationale for public activity and they enjoy favorable treatment--flouting the principles of competitive neutrality. Meanwhile, labor regulations add to market rigidity, while gendered laws restrict women's potential. To change this reality, the state must reshape its relationship toward markets, toward workers, and toward women. The region must create a level playing field between SOEs and the private sector, replace labor rigidities with appropriate social protection and labor market programs, and remove barriers to women's economic participation. Governments can also foster new sectors and occupations, gradually propelling market contestability and job creation. All reforms will have to rely on improved data capacity and transparency to create a new social contract between governments and the people of the region.

Job creation

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This report is a guidebook for practitioners to promote policy actions that strengthen competitiveness at the subnational level. It introduces Subnational Competitiveness Grants (SCGs) as an innovative approach in which well-tested tools for competitiveness policy and subnational government performance can be leveraged to advance the jobs and economic transformation agenda at the subnational level. SCGs are a type of intergovernmental fiscal instrument where fiscal transfers are provided to subnational governments to achieve improvements in competitiveness and local economic development. SCGs can enhance competitiveness by increasing the capacity, mandate, and incentives of subnational governments to affect relevant policy levers. This instrument builds on The World Bank's 2015 report on Competitive Cities for Jobs and Growth which provided a conceptual framework on how cities and subnational regions can become more competitive and create economic growth and quality jobs. This guidebook first discusses the relevance of subnational governments in enhancing competitiveness and shows that performance-based fiscal transfers can be a useful tool in incentivizing and capacitating subnational governments to support local competitiveness in particular contexts. The second part of the guidebook provides detailed guidance on the appropriate design and implementation of this instrument. This guidebook will be relevant for a wide variety of policymakers and practitioners, including national and subnational governments, program designers, and others interested in subnational and city competitiveness.

Job creation. --- Job creation --- Methodology.

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An effective and equitable social protection system can help Kosovo to promote human capital, foster productivity, and reduce poverty. Since its independence in 2008, the country has made considerable socioeconomic progress, benefiting from the support of the international community and its own diaspora. Kosovo's economic growth has not been sufficient to reduce the high rates of unemployment or create formal jobs. It stands out as the Western Balkan country with the lowest labor market outcomes, especially for women, and is one of the poorest countries in Europe and the poorest in the Western Balkans, secondly to Albania. The recent Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of the population to the negative effects of shocks, which are anticipated to become more frequent with climate change. And yet, in contrast with other Western Balkan countries, Kosovo's working-age population is on the rise and the country stands to benefit from the demographic dividend. Kosovo can respond to these challenges and harness opportunities by investing in human capital while promoting employment and protecting those vulnerable to shocks. A strong social protection system can play an important role in promoting these objectives. This note presents a situational analysis of the social protection system of Kosovo. It assesses the extent to which the social protection system fulfils its purpose and proposes areas for reform in the short-, medium-, and long-term. The note is based on analysis of administrative data, the most recent European Union Survey on Individual Living Conditions (EIJ-SILC) and Household Budget Survey (HBS), a review of relevant literature, and engagement with technical experts in the Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers (MFLT) and with select development partners. The situational analysis of the social protection system in Kosovo unfolds as follows. After the introduction, section 2 reviews the country's main poverty and labor market outcomes; Section 3 provides a brief overview of the social protection system; Section 4 looks at non-contributory cash transfers to support the poor, vulnerable and disabled; Section 5 examines social services; Section 6 analyzes pensions; Section 7 explores employment and active labor market programs; Section 8 reviews the social protection response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; and Section 9 concludes by identifying the knowledge gaps and main areas for reform.

Job creation. --- Natural disasters.

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Sub-Saharan Africa's recovery from the pandemic is expected to decelerate in 2022 amid a slowdown in global economic activity, continued supply constraints, outbreaks of new coronavirus variants, climatic shocks, high inflation, and rising financial risks due to high and increasingly vulnerable debt levels. The war in Ukraine has exacerbated the already existing tensions and vulnerabilities affecting the continent. Given the sources of growth in the region and the nature of the economic linkages with Russia and Ukraine, the war in Ukraine might have a marginal impact on economic growth and on overall poverty - as this shock affects mostly the urban poor and vulnerable people living just above the poverty line. However, its largest impact is on the increasing likelihood of civil strife as a result of food- and energy-fueled inflation amid an environment of heightened political instability. The looming threats of stagflation require a two-pronged strategy that combines short-term measures to contain inflationary pressures and medium-to-long-term policies that accelerate the structural transformation and create more and better jobs. In response to supply shocks, monetary policy in the region may prove ineffective to bring down inflation and other short-run options may be restricted by the lack of fiscal space. Concessional financing might be key to helping countries alleviate the impact of food and fuel inflation. Over the medium term, avoiding stagflation may require a combination of actionable measures that improve the resilience of the economy by shoring up productivity and job creation. Lastly, ongoing actions to enhance social protection--including dynamic delivery systems for rapid scalability and shock-sensitive financing--could be strengthened further to improve economic resilience against shocks and foster investments in productive assets.

Job creation. --- Labor market.

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Mathematics --- Job creation --- Study and teaching --- Developing countries --- Economic conditions.