Attachments
CONTEXT
Persistent political instability and over a decade of conflict have concertedly contributed to hamper the economic development of Libya. Three quarters of Libya’s national labour force is employed in the public sector with the population being highly dependent on the State for their livelihoods. The Libyan private sector is dominated by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with 84% of firms being Micro or Small in 2020. Youth (15-24 years) unemployment rate in Libya has been steadily increasing for the last twenty years, with the last International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates of 2020 being at 51.5%, placing Libya with the third highest estimated youth unemployment rate in the world. Furthermore, it is likely that COVID-19 containment measures may have adversely affected private economic entrepreneurship as well as youth employment. Another defining feature of the Libyan labour market is the high participation rate of foreign nationals into the labour force. Migrants and refugees have historically been filling labour market shortages in low-skilled and low-productivity fields, such as agriculture, construction, and retail trade. The southern region is a key site for migrant smuggling as it is the entry point of flows heading towards the Mediterranean from sub-Saharan Africa, with Sebha and Ubari being nodal hubs of these dense trading, smuggling, and migratory routes. In this context, REACH, with the financial support of the European Trust Fund (EUTF), in partnership with ACTED, conducted a Labour Market Assessment in two baladiyas in the South of Libya, namely Sebha and Ubari. The aim of the assessment is to inform humanitarian and development actors’ understanding of the multifaceted challenges of the labour market in the two main economic and urban baladiyas in the South of Libya, from a labour supply, demand and institutional perspective.