Labor Markets and Labor Policy in MENA Countries

Friday, March 15:

14:30	-	15:00		Registration and Welcome Coffee
15:00	-	15:10		Welcoming Remarks Klaus F. Zimmermann (IZA and University of Bonn)
15:10	-	16:10		Keynote Speech Ragui Assaad (University of Minnesota)
16:10	-	16:30		General Discussion
16:30	-	17:00		Coffee Break
				Session: A
				Chair: Núria Rodríguez-Planas (IZA, IAE-CSIC and UPF)
17:00	-	17:45		Irene Selwaness (Cairo University), Chahir Zaki (Cairo University)
				"Assessing the Impact of Trade Reforms on Informality in Egypt"
				Discussant: Jackline Wahba (University of Southampton and IZA)
17:45	-	18:30		Miquel Pellicer (German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA)), Tuomas Pekkarinen (Aalto University and IZA)
				"Education and Allocation of Skills in Tunisia: Evidence from an Education Reform"
				Discussant: David Lam (University of Michigan and IZA)
20:00				Dinner

Saturday, March 16:

				Session: B
				Chair: Jackline Wahba (University of Southampton and IZA)
09:00	-	09:45		Shireen AlAzzawi (Santa Clara University)
				"Did Trade Liberalization Benefit Female Workers? Evidence on Wage and Employment Effects from Egypt"
				Discussant: Ragui Assaad (University of Minnesota)
09:45	-	10:30		Sinem H. Ayhan (University of Bologna)
				"Do Non-Wage Cost Rigidities Slow Down Employment? Evidence from Turkey"
				Discussant: Juan F. Jimeno (Bank of Spain and IZA)
10:30	-	11:00		Coffee Break
11:00	-	12:00		Keynote Speech Said Aidi (Former Minister for Employment, Tunisia)
12:00	-	12:20		General Discussion
				Session: B (continued)
				Chair: Jackline Wahba (University of Southampton and IZA)
12:20	-	13:05		Rihab Bellakhal (Tunis Graduate School of Business), Mohamed-Badrane Mahjoub (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne )
				"The Impact of Tunisian Vocational Training Programs on Employment and Wage"
				Discussant: Tuomas Pekkarinen (Aalto University and IZA)
13:05	-	14:15		Lunch
				Session: C
				Chair: Hartmut Lehmann (University of Bologna and IZA)
14:15	-	15:00		Stijn Broecke (OECD)
				"Tackling Graduate Unemployment through Employment Subsidies: An Assessment of the SIVP Programme in Tunisia"
				Discussant: Amelie F. Constant (George Washington University, Temple University and IZA)
15:00	-	15:45		Chaimaa Yassine (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), François Langot (University of Le Mans and IZA)
				"Public Sector Wage Policy, Informality and Labor Market Equilibrium in Developing Countries: The Egyptian and Jordanian Cases"
				Discussant: Hartmut Lehmann (University of Bologna and IZA)
15:45	-	16:30		Aysit Tansel (Middle East Technical University and IZA), Elif Oznur Kan (Cankaya University)
				"Labor Mobility Across the Formal/Informal Divide in Turkey: Evidence from Individual Level Data"
				Discussant: David Neumark (University of California, Irvine and IZA)
16:30				Final Remarks and Instructions for Submission by the Organizers