Revisiting Labor Market Regulations in the Middle East and North Africa

Labor regulations are important determinants of resource allocation, productivity, and labor market outcomes. They can protect workers’ rights, enhance job security, and improve working conditions. However, overly restrictive regulations can also i...

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Main Author:	Hatayama, Maho
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2022
Subjects:	LABOR REGULATION EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION LABOR REFORM WAGES LABOR COST LABOR POLICY LABOR MARKET
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/375291643045212797/Revisiting-Labor-Market-Regulations-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36887

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spelling	okr-10986-368872022-01-29T05:10:43Z Revisiting Labor Market Regulations in the Middle East and North Africa Hatayama, Maho LABOR REGULATION EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION LABOR REFORM WAGES LABOR COST LABOR POLICY LABOR MARKET Labor regulations are important determinants of resource allocation, productivity, and labor market outcomes. They can protect workers’ rights, enhance job security, and improve working conditions. However, overly restrictive regulations can also increase business costs, becoming barriers to creating formal employment, particularly for vulnerable workers. This paper analyzes the key characteristics of labor market regulations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and benchmarks them against international practices. The main objective is to identify strengths and weaknesses in the regulations and to inform governments about policy options to enhance employment outcomes in the region. The paper focuses on labor laws and regulations concerning hiring, working hours, minimum wage, redundancy rules and cost, unemployment insurance, labor tax and social security contributions, and legal frameworks affecting women’s work. This paper finds that the region has generally flexibly hiring rules, but that redundancy regulations are relatively rigid and costly compared to international practices. Statutory minimum wages and labor taxes are not very high, with the exception of a few countries. Although many countries have made efforts to remove legal barriers for women workers, discriminatory laws still restrict their participation in the labor market. While labor market regulations vary by country, the findings suggest areas where there is clear scope to improve the design and implementation of labor market regulations to facilitate stronger formal labor demand and to enhance efficient resource allocation; and at the same time, to strengthen compliance to provide necessary protections to workers. 2022-01-28T16:00:29Z 2022-01-28T16:00:29Z 2022-01-24 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/375291643045212797/Revisiting-Labor-Market-Regulations-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36887 English Jobs Working Paper;No. 64 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper Middle East and North Africa
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	LABOR REGULATION EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION LABOR REFORM WAGES LABOR COST LABOR POLICY LABOR MARKET
spellingShingle	LABOR REGULATION EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION LABOR REFORM WAGES LABOR COST LABOR POLICY LABOR MARKET Hatayama, Maho Revisiting Labor Market Regulations in the Middle East and North Africa
geographic_facet	Middle East and North Africa
relation	Jobs Working Paper;No. 64
description	Labor regulations are important determinants of resource allocation, productivity, and labor market outcomes. They can protect workers’ rights, enhance job security, and improve working conditions. However, overly restrictive regulations can also increase business costs, becoming barriers to creating formal employment, particularly for vulnerable workers. This paper analyzes the key characteristics of labor market regulations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and benchmarks them against international practices. The main objective is to identify strengths and weaknesses in the regulations and to inform governments about policy options to enhance employment outcomes in the region. The paper focuses on labor laws and regulations concerning hiring, working hours, minimum wage, redundancy rules and cost, unemployment insurance, labor tax and social security contributions, and legal frameworks affecting women’s work. This paper finds that the region has generally flexibly hiring rules, but that redundancy regulations are relatively rigid and costly compared to international practices. Statutory minimum wages and labor taxes are not very high, with the exception of a few countries. Although many countries have made efforts to remove legal barriers for women workers, discriminatory laws still restrict their participation in the labor market. While labor market regulations vary by country, the findings suggest areas where there is clear scope to improve the design and implementation of labor market regulations to facilitate stronger formal labor demand and to enhance efficient resource allocation; and at the same time, to strengthen compliance to provide necessary protections to workers.
format	Working Paper
author	Hatayama, Maho
author_facet	Hatayama, Maho
author_sort	Hatayama, Maho
title	Revisiting Labor Market Regulations in the Middle East and North Africa
title_short	Revisiting Labor Market Regulations in the Middle East and North Africa
title_full	Revisiting Labor Market Regulations in the Middle East and North Africa
title_fullStr	Revisiting Labor Market Regulations in the Middle East and North Africa
title_full_unstemmed	Revisiting Labor Market Regulations in the Middle East and North Africa
title_sort	revisiting labor market regulations in the middle east and north africa
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2022
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/375291643045212797/Revisiting-Labor-Market-Regulations-in-the-Middle-East-and-North-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36887
_version_	1764486100905099264

Revisiting Labor Market Regulations in the Middle East and North Africa

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