The American Brookings Institute issued yesterday a report titled "The Middle East in a Post-Oil Boom Era?" by Navtej Dhillon, Director of the Middle East Youth Initiative. According to this report, "a maturing cohort [in Egypt] is now exerting pressures not only on the education system and labor markets but also the housing market." "While some countries (such as Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt) have seen a drop in their unemployment rates, the youth unemployment remains considerably higher than adult unemployment. "In Egypt, recent data shows that youth unemployment stood at 16.9 percent in 2006 down from 25.6 percent in 1998. While declining, this is still much higher than the overall unemployment rate of about 8.3 percent. "Unemployment is increasingly concentrated among the educated youth. For example, … of the 1.6 million young Egyptians out of work, 95 percent have attained a secondary education or higher" the report affirms, adding that "the average duration of unemployment for new labor market entrants is 2.5 years in Egypt, 3 years in Iran, and 3 years in Morocco. "Arab leaders are now voicing their concerns about the impact of the grim global economic outlook on their populations, especially the young. U.S. assistance should heed these calls from Arab leaders and support a new agenda for economic development and regeneration. By maintaining our aid commitments to the region, President Obama can demonstrate the U.S. government's commitment to a positive agenda toward the Muslim world. "As high-end tourism falls, … countries like Jordan and Egypt might be able to position themselves as middle-low end tourism venues, which will in turn create employment."
