Youth unemployment across Africa and the Middle East is a complex and urgent challenge. With over 60% of the population under the age of 25, the region faces a demographic surge that, if not matched with economic opportunity, risks deepening cycles of unemployment, underemployment, and exclusion, particularly for women and marginalised youth.
Each year, more young people enter the labour market than there are jobs to absorb them, especially in less developed economies. Formal employment remains out of reach for most: In 2023, only about one in five youth in low-income countries could expect to secure regular paid employment and nearly three-quarters of young adults in Sub-Saharan Africa remained trapped in insecure work, underscoring the persistent gap between demographic potential and economic opportunity.
Despite growing interest in youth employment programmes, many interventions remain fragmented and overly focused on supply-side solutions such as upskilling. While important, this narrow focus often overlooks the demand-side of the employment equation. In other words, what are the requirements, commercial motivations, and constraints faced by employers who ultimately create and sustain jobs?
This highlights a critical gap: the need for more evidence and investment in programmes that directly engage employers and respond to labour market realities with demand-driven solutions.
CFYE seeks to address this gap through the Pathways to Employment (PTE) Learning Series. Drawing on standardised data collected over 6 years of implementation and targeted case study research with selected partners, the PTE series aims to generate practical lessons on how different business models can create and sustain decent work for youth.
Paper 2: Social Enterprises
Youth employment across Africa and the Middle East remains a critical challenge, compounded by demographic pressures and fragile labour markets. While many young people are eager for meaningful work, they often find themselves trapped in informal, low-wage jobs.
In this context, Social Enterprises offer a compelling model for inclusive job creation, particularly for young women. By embedding youth employment and inclusion into their core operations, these businesses have the potential to transform community challenges into market opportunities.
However, Social Enterprises face persistent barriers on both the supply and demand sides of the labour market. On the supply side, young people, especially women and marginalised groups, face limited access to finance, skills, and information about available jobs. On the demand side, Social Enterprises operate with thin margins and constrained access to growth capital, making it difficult to scale and create decent jobs, or retain talent.
