The average annual growth rate in the labor force in the MENA region over the next 10 years is expected to be around 2 percent per year, according to Ernst & Young's (EY) second quarterly Rapid-Growth Markets Forecast. That's 15 million jobseekers from the national population over a span of a decade across the MENA region. In the Middle East, EY particularly looked at four countries the company considers as RGM (Rapid-Growth Markets). These are Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt. While Ernst & Young does not provide a country breakdown of jobseekers, it would be safe to assume that a big chunk of this figure comes from Egypt and then, perhaps, from Saudi Arabia. And, while some growth in workforce can be promising, it can be detrimental to a country's economy and political standing - some of which pockets of the region are already witnessing. It's easy to say that the job creation should be high on any government's agenda. But what would governments have to do to make sure this growth in labor force becomes a boon to the economy and not a burden? While this issue might be relatively easier to manage across a smaller national population such in the UAE and Qatar, nationalization programs in these countries still have a lot of headway to cover in ensuring low employment rates. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), infrastructure investment can have a sizeable impact on employment generation - about 40,000 annual direct and indirect new jobs can be created in the short term for every $1 billion spend on infrastructure projects. On this basis, 1 percent of GDP spent on the right kind of infrastructure projects could generate up to 87,000 new jobs in Egypt, for example.
