The Relationship between GDP and Unemployment: Evidence from MENA Countries

This paper investigates the long-run relationship between GDP growth and unemployment for the following selected MENA countries: Turkey, Egypt, Israel, and Jordan. Although the results of previous studies in this area are somewhat ambiguous, the literature has traditionally shown a negative relationship between GDP growth and unemployment. In this paper, we expect a negative long-run relationship between GDP growth and unemployment to exist. Therefore, we predict that high rates of GDP growth will lead to a reduction in unemployment. The results of our cross-country comparison model support a negative relationship between these variables