Sachs: The Arab Young and Restless

Jeff Sachs says governments in the Middle East "must make the youth unemployment crisis their highest priority":

The Arab Young and Restless, by Jeffrey D. Sachs: Many factors underlay the ongoing upheavals in the Middle East... To top it off, rapid population growth is fueling enormous demographic pressures. ... Rapid population growth means a bulging youth population. ... Employment growth is simply not keeping up with this population surge... The unemployment rate for young people (15-24 years old) in North Africa and the Middle East is 30% or more. ...

If democracy is to take hold and flourish in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere in the Arab world, the new reform-minded governments must make the youth unemployment crisis their highest priority. ...

The deposed authoritarian rulers – Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Mubarak, and soon Libya’s Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi – stashed away billions of dollars stolen from the public treasury. This ill-gotten money should be recovered and put into a special fund for youth employment. ...