Unemployment and Labor Market Institutions: Theory and Evidence from the GCC

Nabi, Mahmoud Sami and Suliman, Mohamed Osman (2008): Unemployment and Labor Market Institutions: Theory and Evidence from the GCC. Published in: Arab Planning Institute Working Paper , Vol. 806, (2008)

Abstract

The theoretical model delves into the relationship between labor market institutions and unemployment by proving two propositions: (1) allowing informal activity bolsters job creation, and (2) if the institutional environment is initially, sufficiently, weak, then mitigating it will lower unemployment. Simulating the model with the GCC’s unemployment for the period 1990-2007 allows us to decipher the validity of the model. The institutional environment is represented in this simulation by social insurance which is captured through oil prices. Hence, an increase in oil prices is assumed to lead to higher social insurance and, therefore ,to higher cost of hiring labour . The parameters are selected with the objective of minimizing the error gap between the effective unemployment rate and the simulated unemployment rate . The effective unemployment rate is constructed as a weighted average of the unemployment rate of nationals and non-nationals. The weights are the shares of national and non-national labour-force in the GCC countries. Expositional simulations verified the second proposition. Thus, improving labor market institutions, that are initially weak may discernibly alleviate unemployment problems in the GCC.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Unemployment; institutions; GCC
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J0 - General

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