Demographic and labour market trends in Yemen: a background paper to frame the interface between the youth employment challenge and the national migration policy

[This is] a background paper to frame the interface between the youth employment challenge and the national migration policy. This paper offers an analysis of demographic and labour market trends in Yemen that may prove important to inform policy makers on the magnitude of the employment and migration challenge for the years to come. The paper also emphasizes the importance of the protection of Yemeni workers in [Gulf Cooperation Council] GCC countries and the advancement of women's economic empowerment.

Yemen's development depends on the government's ability to generate employment, promote education and skills development, and provide decent employment conditions for its young generation and women. This, in turn, requires a strong commitment to social and economic reform, and the transformation of state institutions. The increase in labour market entrants means that the number of additional jobs the Yemeni economy would have to create on a yearly average to maintain an employment-to-population ratio of 75 per cent equates to 150,000 jobs a year. In this situation, Yemen's economy is evidently struggling to absorb the increasing number of new entrants into the labour market.

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