The Euro-Mediterranean Network for Economic Studies (EMNES) has organized a policy conference last week in Amman, Jordan, providing platform for discussion on the socio-economic roots of unemployment in the region and on the perspectives and challenges for job creation in order to develop a policy roadmap to solve the problem of unemployment.

Prof. Adel Al Tweissi, Jordanian Minister of Higher Education, and Dr. Wajih Oweis, Senator and Former minister of higher education, both highlighted the need to align the output of higher education institutions with the needs of the labor market. For the President of Yarmouk University Prof. Zaydan Khafafi, achieving economic growth alone is not a solution to unemployment and poverty without improving the fair distribution of income.

In her address, The Scientific Director of EMNES and Founding President of the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association, Prof. Rym Ayadi, stressed that the region is suffering from skill mismatch on the labor markets. Moreover, rampant informality, corruption and red tape, lack of access to finance and financial education hamper the growth of micro, small and medium sized enterprises. She also highlighted the pivotal role of EMNES which aims to provide a roadmap for decision-makers in the Mediterranean Region, in order to develop a model of comprehensive economic growth that ensures the eradication of poverty and the creation of decent and fair jobs for all segments of Arab society.

Dr. Ziad Fariz, Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan, stressed the need to keep pace with the rapid technological developments in the world, while Maha Ali, Former Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply, highlighted the need to achieve economic growth and activate investment to address the problem of unemployment in the countries of the South Mediterranean.

The Euro-Mediterranean Network for Economic Studies (EMNES) is a network of partners and associates research institutions and think tanks working on socio-economics in the Euro-Mediterranean. The EMNES project is co-funded by the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association – EMEA and the European Commission.

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