Youth Employment: Five Challenges for North Africa

Youth Employment: Five Challenges for North Africa - A paper for the Regional conference: Promoting Youth Employment in North Africa, Tunis, 16 July 2012 As successive editions of the African Economic Outlook - jointly published by the AfDB, OECD Development Centre, UNDP and ECA (www.africaneconomicoutlook.org) - have shown, North Africa has experienced stable and significant growth over the last decade. Yet growth is not always sufficient to guarantee productive employment for all. Large sections of the population, and particularly the young, can be left behind and become frustrated. In the absence of a political process allowing them to express their views and produce policy changes, instability can result, as it did last year in a number of North African countries. This is an opportune time to reset the policy agenda of North African governments towards an inclusive, employment-creating and sustainable growth strategy, aimed particularly at addressing the special needs of the young. Based on the analysis of the African Economic Outlook 2012, this note identifies five youth employment challenges that North African countries are facing, and five key areas of action.