More men unemployed than women in Libya: report

Libya is the only Arab country where there are more unemployed men than women, a report by the Arab League showed.

Unemployment for women in Libya stands at 18 percent while for men the figure is 21 percent.

Libya stands out from other Arab nations where women unemployment is higher than men.
The report, based on research compiled figures in 2010, showed a huge gap between the two genders’ unemployment level.

While the resource-rich Gulf nations enjoy the lowest overall unemployment figures, women in these countries continue to struggle to find employment.

The report said that around 15 percent of Saudi women are unemployed, against just four percent of men. In the UAE 10.8 percent of females are out of work, compared to 2.4 percent men.

The gas-rich Qatar has the lowest unemployment figures in the region, with just 1.9 percent of unemployed females against 0.1 percent of men. In Kuwait 3.1 percent of females remain unemployed against 0.8 percent of men.

Mauritania had the Arab World’s highest level of female unemployment at around 44 against 23.9 percent for men at the end of 2010.

In Yemen 40.9 per cent of women are out of work against 11.5 percent of men, while in Palestine 32.6 percent in Palestine of women are unemployed against 25.4 percent of men. In Jordan the report says 24.1 percent of women remain unemployed compared to 10.3 percent of men.

Prior the start of the Arab Spring, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the Arab economies need to sustain an annual growth rate of at least 6.5 percent to be able to provide employment for the youth. Youth unemployment in the Arab region is already the highest in the world, with more than a quarter of the population under 29 years of age jobless, as per 2010 figures.

The Arab state’s economies were criticized in 2010, prior the Arab Spring, for not growing fast enough to provide employment for the 100 million young people expected to enter the job market in the 10 years to come.

In a recent study, the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), an affiliate of the Arab League, said regional countries need to create at least 40 million jobs by 2020 to tackle unemployment.

Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU) said the losses suffered in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Syria because of the Arab Spring have so far amounted to $100 billion.

Many believe the Arab Spring can lead to more transparent economies later in the future and more investment can be made once nations’ achieve political stability.