Are labour markets in the Middle East and North Africa recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to a health crisis, but also to economic and labour market crises. In an effort to avert the public health threat, countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) initially put in place some of the world’s most stringent government responses. This paper explores how labour market outcomes for MENA workers have evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper uses the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Economic Research Forum (ERF) COVID-19 MENA Monitor phone surveys in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia, with waves spanning November 2020 to August 2021. Analyses examine outcomes of employment, unemployment, and labour force participation, along with hours of work and hourly wages. Results show differences in the evolution of pandemic-era labour markets by workers’ gender, age, and education, along with their February 2020 labour market status and industry, as well as their pre-pandemic income. Employment rates have largely recovered and hours of work generally increased. Inequality in wages was initially exacerbated by the pandemic, but there has been at least some recovery on this margin as well. The webinars, reports and papers are supported by the project “Advancing the Decent Work Agenda in North Africa (ADWA’)”, implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The project aims to promote job-rich growth, International Labour Standards (ILS) and their application at the enterprise level. It works at the policymaking level in order to support evidence-based decisions on key dimensions of the Decent Work Agenda. This project was made possible by the generous contributions of the International Labor Organization (ILO), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the Government of the United Kingdom, the World Bank and the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development (AFESD).