Being un- or underemployed often means living at home under rules imposed by the family, delaying social and civil independence and limiting chances to start a family, with marriage closely linked – through cost and social norms – to employment. Youth end up delaying their marriage, and basically living a life of frustration, because a lot of sexual relationships are forbidden outside of marriage.
Economic growth in Lebanon, fueled by rising oil prices and foreign transfers, has been neither labor intensive nor job creating. Instead, the bulk of employment creation has been temporary and informal. Unemployment has surged among secondary school and university graduates as more educated young men and women enter the labor market. Moreover, educated youth in Lebanon prefer to migrate and find economic opportunities abroad than those scarcely available in the private sector. The freeze in public sector employment and the stagnation in formal private sector jobs, especially during the last few years, have resulted in very long periods of unemployment among young people.
The exclusion from labor markets also disproportionally affects young women. The gender gap is seen in the labor participation rates of women, which are the lowest in the world, as only one in four working-age women are in the labor market (compared to a world average of 50%). This can be attributed to cultural norms and women’s own choice to focus on their roles as caretakers, and also to their frustrations at poor labor market prospects. Young women also face an unemployment rate much higher than that for young men. Low labor participation and pervasive unemployment means that most women in the region are systematically excluded from labor markets. The loss of educational investment in women that this entails is enormous, not to mention the constraint that this imposes on their right to economic and social emancipation.
The frustration among Lebanese youth is compounded by social exclusion, as the lack of job opportunities results in lack of access to housing and delayed marriage, which hinders the transition to independent adulthood. The average cost of housing in Beirut is one of the highest in the region, and there are no housing policies that favor young people, who have no effective means by which to borrow against their potential future earnings. This is added to malfunctioning rental markets governed by inefficient laws.
The harsh living conditions experienced by most young people in Lebanon have largely contributed to a significant outflow of emigrants, mostly young males seeking jobs in other countries. One third of all youth wish to emigrate at least temporarily and 77% of emigrants from Lebanon are below the age of 35. The emigration share was equal to 14.4% of the total resident population between 2010 and 2014, among the highest in the Arab world. The high rate of graduate migration (35-40% of graduates) poses a problem of a loss in human capita. Skilled migration is causing shortages of qualified labor in certain sectors or a drain on scarce qualified resources. Given the importance of youth migration in the country, it is surprising that we do not yet have an articulate and explicit outward migration policy or have only a passive one promoting migration as a way of reducing labor supply, easing social tensions and generating remittance revenues.
Promoting youth economic integration in Lebanon by stimulating job creation in the formal sector should be a top priority. The problems affecting the job market are not chiefly attributable to the excess supply of job seekers, but rather to institutional and structural impediments to meaningful job creation. The Lebanese government should pursue a socioeconomic development path that promotes labor-intensive and job-creating growth, while at the same time reducing social inequality and exclusion based on age and gender. Policies that encourage job creation in the formal sector should be highlighted, including the establishment of a better operating environment for businesses through the reduction of red tape and the reform of outdated business legislation, and the active reduction of the cost of doing business for firms. For instance, establishing a new company takes on average a month and a half compared to one week in developed economies. Borrowing interest rates are also among the highest in the world, despite all the various subsidies, which imposes serious restrictions on private enterprise development and, therefore, job creation.
In parallel to promoting an economic environment conducive for job creation, the government should tackle the expectations and skills development of its young workforce. This should be done firstly by upgrading the educational system away from the focus on national exams and the accumulation of degrees towards the buildup of skills that promote employability. Secondly, systematic training and internship opportunities should be introduced to improve the job experience of first time employment seekers. Thirdly, public sector employment should be upgraded by implementing civil service reforms that promote productivity and merit-based pay.
High school graduates applying to universities must be informed of what the economy needs in the short and long run. They must be exposed to data that reveal the current economic situation and what sort of jobs the country needs. High school students need professional guidance and hence this step could decrease the waiting time in between graduating and finding a job. Accordingly, universities must also be informed and exposed to similar economic data. They must be encouraged to develop their curricula to meet the needs of the developing economy. There are sectors that can create jobs that have not really been put on top of the agenda, especially in areas like sustainable development, alternative energy, and also areas that are pertaining to agro-food production, and especially the water sector. The Arab region is facing tremendous challenges in terms of its food security, and there are many resources that are untapped, especially using water projects or massive public works projects to create some kind of infrastructure for better agro-food industries.
The government should also provide basic social services that are targeted at the youth population through the provision of more inclusive public goods. These include better social protection, unemployment insurance, housing subsidies and public programs that support housing for young people, and other forms of social aid that would ease the transition of young men and women into adulthood. Moreover, special attention should be given to the issue of the exclusion of young women from labor markets by providing public support for working mothers, investing in more kindergartens and daycares, and reforming outdated labor legislation to allow greater maternity leave and flexible, and protective employment contracts.
The emigration of the region’s youth should be tackled as a symptom of the lack of integration this population segment suffers from in the domestic economy rather than a valued source of foreign currency through remittances. This shift not only requires a change in the general mindset of policymakers, but also the active involvement of the international community through the strengthening of international migration organizations and treaties. More investments should be particularly made in building the capacity of the public sector to implement active migration policies, and to promote national human capital and employment promotion programs.
