​Sumary:

  • The labor market in 2006 was characterized by positive trends-increased employment, lower unemployment, and a rise in real wages.  
  • The main reason for the expansion of employment in the various industries was the acceleration of economic activity, which was not adversely affected even by the second Lebanon war ,which broke out in the middle of the year.  
  • Economic growth continued to be based on a rise in labor productivity and fall in unit labor cost-developments which are typical of a process of emergence from a recession-but there were signs of a transition to sustainable growth. The most important of these was the significant decline in unemployment and its stabilization at a level below that of 2000-the peak of the previous business cycle-despite the increase in the participation rate.  
  • The expansion of the human-capital-intensive industries led to an increase in the relative demand for skilled employees, a rise in their wage, and a decline in their unemployment rate to its 'natural rate .' n the other hand , the unemployment rate of unskilled workers remained very high, and the real wage in the industries employing them did not increase, and even declined in some of them.  
  • In addition to the efforts to increase the participation in the labor market of weaker segments of the population, supplementary measures should be adopted which will make it easier for them to find employment and improve their remuneration. Consequently, the programs currently in effect aimed at encouraging employment should be expanded, particularly since the current level of expenditure on them is low by international standards. In the long term most of the emphasis should be placed on investing in education.  


The Labor Market - Full File