ILO: Unemployment in Arab region 25-27 pct

Regional Office Director of The International Labor Organization (ILO) in northern Africa Yousif Al-Qaryoti said Monday that the percentage of unemployment in the Arab region ranged between 25-27 percent, while in several Arab countries it went up to 40 percent. In a speech marking the opening of “Empowering Arab Youth through ICT” forum, Al-Qaryoti said that one of the reasons behind increasingly high unemployment rates was the contradicting needs between requirements for the job market and new graduates and their academic qualifications,reported the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA. He called for the merger of communication and information new technologies in all of the educational levels. For her part, the Secretary General of the Arab Information and Communication Technologies Organization Khadija Al-Gharyani said that the forum was a milestone toward enhancing Arab youth opportunities in these fields. ILO is the international organization responsible for drawing up and overseeing international labour standards around the world.