The choice of the themes reflects the priority areas and employment challenges facing the Arab region. These papers provide the background material for the realization of commitments made at the global and regional levels on decent work. Moreover, these issue papers are complimentary to ILO approaches and they build on an on-going process to support the realization of decent work at the global level.

The papers are:

Growth, Employment and Decent Work in the Arab Region: an Overview

Jobs and quality jobs or decent work are the primary social demand in the region and the essential element of social cohesion and integration. The purpose of this paper, prepared by the ILO for the Arab Employment Forum (Doha, November 2008), is to stimulate debate and discussion and to draw policy attention to the need for reconsidering priorities and for making a) employment a central goal of development policies in the region and b) labour market governance an essential element of the reform agenda -if the dividend of the current growth performance of the Region is to translate into real gains in higher productivity, sustained human development and decent work.

Promoting Employment Opportunities for Young Men and Women in the Arab Region

This paper discusses the key challenges faced by Arab youth entering labour markets and highlights appropriate responses. In so doing, it reviews recent regional labour market trends as well as a range of policy and programmatic experiences around the region. Key challenges are identified with respect to the quality of the educational system and of employment, SME and private sector development, the limited reach of existing labour market interventions resulting from poor institutional cooperation and communication, and other institutional constraints, including labour legislation and governance structures.

Skills for employability of workers and productivity of enterprises in Arab States

This briefing paper reviews available data on education, skills development, and productivity in the Arab region and tries to link these trends to labour market outcomes and development – disaggregating where data permits to be able to consider differences for women and men. It provides an international perspective by contrasting regional trends with those characterizing other parts of the world. It cites examples of skills development reform efforts from countries throughout the region. And it looks to recent international and tripartite discussions on skills development for relevant guidance to addressing the key policy challenges in the region.

Sustainable Enterprise Development and Employment Creation

This paper outlines the fundamental importance of sustainable enterprises in achieving social development goals, economic diversification, income generation and poverty reduction, in the region. It also highlights a number of challenges facing the crucial development of the private sector in the Arab countries.

Institutions and Policies for Equitable and Efficient Labour Market Governance in the Arab Region

This paper reviews an array of interconnected issues related to Labour market governance. The aim is to demonstrate the importance of an integrated approach based on efficiency and equity for improving the functioning of the labour market. The paper provides an overview of ratification and implementation of ILO fundamental principles and rights at work since this provides an assessment of universally accepted minimum standards of fairness. While the Arab region has a solid record of ratifying ILO Fundamental conventions, some gaps still exist especially in terms of Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining. These gaps do not only relate to ratification but also to adherence to ratified conventions.