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Key Characteristics of Employment Regulation in the Middle East and North AfricaThis note provides a general background
 of the main features of labor regulation in the Middle East
 and North Africa (MENA) and benchmarks them against
 international best practices. The note compiles information
 on available labor laws and other legal acts concerning
 employment protection regulation. Within the broader scope
 of labor regulation, and in order to assure regional
 comparability, information collected focuses on key issues
 in the labor law associated with commencing or terminating
 employment and during the period of employment (including
 maternity benefits). The main sources the data are the World
 Bank doing business 2010 and International Labour
 Organisation (ILO) databank. This note is a tool to provide
 policymakers and international organizations with a regional
 diagnose of how labor regulation affects labor market
 outcomes in MENA and inform client governments about
 strategic approaches to employment creation through labor
 policy and reform. This activity comes as a response to
 regional priorities in the context of the Arab World
 Initiative (AWI). One of the six strategic themes of the AWI
 focuses explicitly on employment creation as a top priority.
 Part of the World Bank's mandate under the AWI is to
 inform client governments about strategic approaches to
 employment creation through labor policy and reform.
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Labor Market Institutions : A Review of the LiteratureThis paper reviews the findings of more than 150 studies on the impacts of four types of labor market institutions: minimum wages, employment protection regulation, unions and collective bargaining, and mandated benefits. The review places particular emphasis on results from developing countries. Impacts studied are on living standards (employment and earnings effects), productivity, and social cohesion, to the extent that this has been analyzed. Strong and opposing views are held on the costs and benefits of labor market institutions. On balance, the results of this review suggest that, in most cases, the impacts of these institutions are smaller than the heat of the debates would suggest. Efficiency effects of labor market regulations and collective bargaining are sometimes found but not always, and the effects can be in either direction and are usually modest. Distributional impacts are clearer, with two effects predominating: an equalizing effect among covered workers but groups such as youth, women, and the less skilled disproportionately outside the coverage and its benefits. While the overall conclusion is one of modest effects in most cases, this does not mean that impacts cannot be more dramatic where regulations are set or institutions operate in ways that exacerbate the labor market imperfections that they were designed to address.
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Armenia : Promoting Productive EmploymentThis paper examines labor market
 outcomes in Armenia and their impact on poverty. The
 outcomes are of considerable concern: relatively few persons
 of working age are employed, and many of those who are
 employed have low-productivity jobs. The problem is not only
 high unemployment, but also low labor force participation.
 The main factor behind the low employment/population ratio
 is weak labor demand and the scarcity of productive job
 opportunities. This paper begins in section one by
 discussing the main labor market challenges in Armenia,
 before focusing on unemployment in section two. Section
 three analyzes the nature of employment and jobs, while
 section four examines wage determination and structure.
 Section five then evaluates the relationship between
 individuals' and households' labor market status
 and poverty. Finally, section six concludes with policy
 implications of the analysis. In order to reach the 60
 percent employment rate Armenia would need to create an
 additional 166,000 jobs. This will lead to a 14 percent
 increase in employment, and to some decrease in
 unemployment. More jobs need to be created to absorb the
 growing labor surplus. This implies growing unemployment and
 a decline in the already low employment rate. Accelerating
 the pace of job creation is thus one of the main social
 challenges facing policymakers in Armenia. Furthermore, it
 is important that in the longer term, wage growth does not
 exceed labor productivity growth. Otherwise, competitiveness
 of the Armenian economy could suffer due to a growth in the
 unit labor cost, which in turn, can have a detrimental
 effect on job creation.