Unemployment Unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is largely a youth phenomenon. Young people aged between 15 and 24 account for at least 40 percent of the unemployed in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia, and almost 60 percent in Syria and Egypt (Dadush 2018). The average youth unemployment rate in these countries was 27 percent back in 2008, the highest of any region in the world (Dadush 2018). Unemployment in many Middle Eastern countries tends to rise with higher levels of education: in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, college graduate unemployment exceeds 15 percent (Angel-Urdinola, Kuddo and Semlali 2013). A question arises as to why unemployment in these countries is steadily at such a high level. The situation described above, in particular, is due to demographic factors. Over the past decade, the combined labor force of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia has grown at an average rate of 2.7 percent per year, that is, faster than in any other region in the world except Africa (Kabbani 2019). Labor force growth is expected to gradually decline in the current decade, but it will remain higher than in most other regions. An additional 10 million people are expected to join the workforce over the next ten years, up from 13½ million in the previous decade (Dadush 2018). In other words, demographic pressure is not expected to ease in the near future. There is also a significant mismatch between the skills of young people and commercial companies’ requirements. Firms regularly claim the lack of qualifications among job applicants as a constraint on hiring, and unemployment rates are highest among the most educated youth (Assaad 2007). In addition, there is the problem of a bloated public sector that attracts job seekers with higher wages, better job security, and a social package. The dominant role of the public sector as an employer distorts labor market outcomes and diverts resources from a potentially more dynamic private sector (Said 2012). Public sector recruitment practices tend to raise wage expectations and emphasize diplomas rather than actual experience, which affects educational choices and contributes to the formation of mismatches between available and required qualifications. The highest unemployment rate is observed not only among young people but in female population. From 2007 to 2017, unemployment among women in the Middle East and North Africa increased by 1.98 p.p. (Dandan and Marques 2017). However, female unemployment is partly due to cultural reasons – the woman’s residence in the parental home before marriage, social restrictions on working hours for both unmarried and married women such as stigmatization of night work, as well as a lower level of education among females. These unemployment rates cause significant social and economic costs. Coronavirus pandemic further complicated the situation on the labor market, critically reducing the volume of inbound tourism, street trading, and services. This led to fewer existing jobs and a negative trend in the creation of new ones. In addition, persons who experience long-term unemployment in their youth are at increased risk for other types of social pathologies: poor health and nutrition, a tendenc