01883cas a2200265 a 4500 AALejournalIMF015827 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781513512228 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Baduel, Benedicte. Private Sector Job Creation in MENA : Prioritizing the Reform Agenda / Benedicte Baduel, Carolin Geginat, Gaelle Pierre. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2019. 1 online resource (37 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students This paper examines the extent to which firms in selected MENA countries reported being constrained by the business environment around the time of the Arab Spring and the extent to which these constraints affected their employment performance. The results suggest that small firms in MENA faced more structural constraints than similar firms in other regions. We also find that MENA firms' weaker job creation can be explained in great part by the macroeconomic environment and structural constraints. Low GDP growth, falling external competitiveness, corruption, lack of access to finance and poor access to electricity are found to explain a significant part of the lack of employment growth in MENA firms compared to their peers. Mode of access: Internet Geginat, Carolin. Pierre, Gaelle. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2019/206 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2019/206/001.2019.issue-206-en.xml IMF e-Library