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Ragui Assaad

University of Minnesota, USA, and IZA, Germany

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Professor of Planning and Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, USA

Research interest

International economic development, labor market analysis, politics and economics of the Middle East and North Africa, poverty, quantitative methods, urban planning, women in work

Website

https://www.hhh.umn.edu/directory/ragui-assaad

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Regional Director for West Asia and North Africa at The Population Council; Principal Investigator for the Construction Labor Market Study at the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics

Past positions

Associate Professor of Planning and Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, 1997–2003

Qualifications

PhD City and Regional Planning, Cornell University, 1991

Selected publications

  • The Egyptian Labor Market in an Era of Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015 (with C. Krafft).

  • The Jordanian Labour Market in the New Millennium. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

  • “Is free basic education in Egypt a reality or a myth?” International Journal of Educational Development 45 (2015): 16–30 (with C. Krafft).

  • “Equality of opportunity in educational achievement in the Middle East and North Africa.” Journal of Economic Inequality 12 (2014): 489–515 (with D. Salehi-Isfahani and N. B. Hassine).

article(s)

  • Public employment in the Middle East and North Africa

    Does a changing public sector workforce in the MENA region provide an opportunity for efficient restructuring?

    Ragui AssaadGhada Barsoum, August 2019
    Public sector hiring has been an essential component of the social bargains that have maintained political stability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). As these bargains eroded, public sector workforces contracted in relative terms owing to a partial freeze on hiring and the promise of lifetime job security for incumbent workers. This had profound effects on the age composition of the workforce. The upcoming retirement of many workers provides an opportunity to restructure public sector hiring to emphasize meritocratic recruitment processes and performance-based compensation systems.
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