Informal Employment, Gender Patterns and Policies in MENA Countries

Abstract

Middle East and North African (MENA) countries notoriously exhibit high prevalence of unemployment and informality among a large fraction of population and, at the same time, gender gaps in labour force participation and job mobility. Why is there such persistent labour market segmentation? What is the impact and potential of various formalisation policies in several MENA countries (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia)? An overview of the informal economy is provided with respect to taxonomy, coverage and drivers. Transition matrices and multinomial logistic regressions are applied to longitudinal microdata from labour market panel surveys (LMPS) (in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia), focusing on workers’ occupational mobility regarding their pre-existing status, age cohort, gender and other demographics. Persistent segmentation and low occupational mobility in all countries suggest that informal employment is not driven by choice on the labour supply side but by structural constraints on the demand side. Existing formalisation policies encapsulating distinct stick and carrot strategies and targeting business versus workers achieve rather modest impacts. Promoting social and solidarity enterprises and extending microfinance to informal enterprises are promising policies for the creation of decent jobs.

Citation

Adair, P., AlAzzawi, S. and Hlasny, V. (2024), "Informal Employment, Gender Patterns and Policies in MENA Countries", Vinodan, A., Mahalakshmi, S. and Rameshkumar, S. (Ed.) Informal Economy and Sustainable Development Goals: Ideas, Interventions and Challenges, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 297-316. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83753-980-220241016