Lybia / Public sector employs more than 80 percent of workforce, the private sector just 4 percent

“Libya’s labour market is skewed toward the public sector, which employs more than 80 percent of the formal workforce, while the private sector employs just 4 percent of Libyans”, the World Bank reported in its latest January MENA Quarterly Economic Brief.

“Furthermore”, the report continued, “attractive wages and benefits offered by the public sector have resulted in high wage expectations among job seekers and university graduates. As a result, the unemployment rate has remained high across the board, though official estimates show a decline in the figures post 2011 revolution”.

“Data released from the Ministry of Labour in September 2013 show that the unemployment rate has improved to 15 percent in 2013 from its high level of about 20 percent in 2010 and 2011. But”, the report noted, ”unofficial estimates suggest that the actual figure is closer to 30 percent with higher rates for the youth”.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Unemployment, subsidies, undiversified economy, stifled private sector – problems of Libyan economy: WB | Libya Herald.