Strengthening the Employment Impact of an MDG-Based Development Strategy for Yemen

Abstract

This Country Study seeks to identify employment policies for Yemen that would support an ambitious Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) based Development Strategy. Based principally on Labour Force and Labour Demand Surveys, it analyses Yemen’s labour force, structure of employment and unemployment, demand for labour, and hours and wages. The study shows that the country is caught in a scissors between slow economic growth and rapid growth of the labour force. The result is widespread underemployment and poverty. While Yemen currently enjoys a boon in oil revenues, its economy remains undiversified and suffers from low productivity and incomes. As a result, the Country Study proposes a four-pronged MDGoriented Growth, Employment and Poverty Reduction Strategy that would help the country reach the MDGs. This strategy is designed to accelerate economic growth, improve the employment intensity of growth, focus more resources on the poor and stimulate private-sector expansion, particularly in sectors with strong potential for growth and employment.