A thriving job market organized by a modern and fair labor law is met by matching skills through an integrated educational ecosystem

Limit the role of Government to efficient policy making and regulation in order to improve the performance of Lebanon’s main macroeconomic indicators

1.Unemployment means that scarce human resources are not being used to produce goods and services to meet people’s needs and wants

2.Persistently high levels of joblessness have damaging scarring consequences for an economy causing economic and social costs

3.Prolonged unemployment leads to an erosion of skills, basically robbing the economy of otherwise useful talents

4.In Lebanon, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labor force

1.Unemployment rate

2.Youth unemployment rate

3.Labour force participation

4.Labor force participation rate, female

5.Youth labor force participation rate

6.Emigration

1.Before the multiple crises that hit Lebanon, the overall unemployment rate in Lebanon stood at 25%, and the youth (under 25) unemployment at 37%

2.In late 2020, unemployment stood at 39.9%; From 2019 to 2020, full-time employment dropped by 40 % in the construction sector, while it fell by 31 % in the hotel and restaurant sector, the United Nations says

3.30,000-35,000 young people graduate from university every year while only 5,000 jobs were created annually before the crises, and are likely to decrease since, increasing the risk of youth brain drain and emigration

4.Lebanon has no specific employment strategy or action plan for employment (European Training Foundation (ETF), 2015)

5.Lebanon has no unemployment benefits scheme

6.95% of the firms would hire more workers if the current regulations did not exist (WB MILE project)

7.The market is saturated with engineers, medical doctors and finance profession­als

8.The massive and unorganized influx of Syrian refugees increases pressures on the Lebanese labor market through the competition and availability of cheap labor

9.The Labor Ministry estimates the number of working children to 250,000; Some NGOs say that 60-70% of refugee children work

10.Being unemployed can lead to depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and other mental health issues

1.The labor law regulating the Lebanese labor market dates back to 1946

2.By law, the NEO is the only institution that is allowed to provide labour intermediation services, but it does not have the human and technical capabilities to adequately perform this task

3.Delivery schemes, training curricula and certification are not harmonized across the agencies providing training programmes in the Lebanese public sector

4.Outdated regulation system, weak administration and the deficit in NSSF's three branches

5.Lack of relevant data and statistics n the labor market and  structured consolidated mechanisms  to identify skills needs

6.No labor market needs analyses have been conducted since 2004

7.Lack of nationwide vocational qualification framework that would set common criteria for training content and certification, thus providing employers with clear signals about the skill level and aptitudes of vocational training graduates (Angel-Urdinola et al., 2013)

8.Lebanon has entered a severe recession since 2019-2020

9.The refugee situation creates additional pressure on the jobs market, especially for low-paying jobs

10.The informal market is large

11.Employment in the private or public sectors is based on the patronage networks present in all levels of state and society

12.A gap between market needs and workers’ skills prevails, as the workforce is highly concentrated in medicine, engineering and other liberal professions

13.Traditional employment opportunities in GCC countries are declining and many Lebanese expatriates are returning home; Furthermore, with the rising security concerns and the worldwide economic contraction following COVID pandemic, employ­ment opportunities in other traditional external markets (i.e. Africa and Europe) have considerably decreased

1.1946: Labor Law

2.1980: Decree / Law 77/80: Establishes the National Employment Office (NEO)

3.International Labor Organization (ILO) has supported NEO in setting up a labor market information system (2011)

4.ILO project: Support to public employment services in Lebanon

5.NEO: Electronic Labor Exchange (2012)

6.NEO funds an accelerated vocational training program for unemployed people and jobseekers

7.Ministry of Labor drafted a new labor law in 2012 but it has never been ratified

8.2012: Raise of minimum wage

9.Salary scale policy (not applied for several years)

10.2013: Central Bank’s Circular 331, to encourage banks to invest in startups

11.2014: Central Bank’s BDL Accelerate international conference for start-ups

12.A Country Programming Framework for Agriculture 2012-2015 And 2016 – 2019

13.The Rural Tourism Strategy for Lebanon

14.Strategic and Operational Plans and 2025 Vision of the Ministry of Industry

15.SME Strategy Roadmap for 2020  (pending)

16.Lebanon Economic Vision  (pending)

Policy Action

1.Assess and review the current labor legal framework including making the necessary amendments to the laws regulating the NSSF and taxes

2.Update and enforce the labor law

3.Implement a transparent, predictable salary adjustment system that would be based on productivity and performance

4.Include unemployment benefits in the NSSF benefits

5.Implement decree No 8691 regarding first-time jobseekers

6.Conduct a market analysis to identify skills needed then amend education curricula to fit future labor market needs

7.Develop technical and Vocational Education Training as well as Life Long training programs

8.Offer scholarships for students willing to study in fields which lack in employees

9.Grant subsidies to encourage firms to invest in depressed areas

10.Grant incentives to SMEs hiring more than X Lebanese employees, or long-term unemployed individuals

11.Develop and implement strategies to support entrepreneurship and SMEs, especially in accessing credit and overcoming cash-flow problems

12.Provide entrepreneurship training and support to facilitate business start-ups, especially among young people, as well as training and advisory services to existing SMEs to enhance their competitiveness

13.Support local production and industry, and increase competitiveness of local products

14.Encourage the creation of specialized investment funds, especially in sectors that have differential advantages

15.Streamline administrative red tape hindering export operations and reduce their costs

16.Develop the infrastructure, particularly the transport and communications (Internet)