Youth Employment and Sustainable Development in North Africa

Over the last two decades, young people in Africa have experienced some increase in school enrolment and decreased gender gap in education. However, the disproportionately high levels of youth unemployment continue to hamper regional development, and the 2008 global economic meltdown has aggravated youth unemployment to crisis proportions.

Despite this challenging situation, there are tremendous opportunities to benefit from the dynamism, enthusiasm and energy of Africa’s youth population. If encouraged and supported with the best policies and programmes, they would not only meet their full potential, but contribute tremendously to significant social and economic development.

This report provides a comparative analysis of the North African countries, all of which are faced with significant youth unemployment.

The study proposes solutions for youth unemployment, ways of contributing to sustainable development and contends that, the role of the State in the economy must be rethought to address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities in the international and domestic political economies of North African countries to achieve inclusive and sustainable development.