This paper introduces the 2018 wave of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS), previously fielded in 1998, 2006, and 2012. The ELMPS has already become the primary source of data for a large number of scholarly and policy studies on the labor market and human development issues in Egypt,...

This paper introduces the 2016 wave of the Jordan Labor Market Panel Survey (JLMPS). It is an essential reference for users of this innovative and valuable dataset, which adds to the growing series of labor market panel surveys (LMPSs) produced by the Economic Research Forum (ERF). The 2016 wave...

Formalizing firms can potentially increase the tax base, expand safety and social protections for workers, create good jobs, and grow the economy. However, the costs and processes of formality may be too challenging for firms, particularly the smallest firms, to bear. Thus, informal firms may...

By the time children in low- and middle-income countries start primary school, large socioeconomic disparities are evident in children's learning and development. Both pre-primary and home environments can play important roles in influencing school readiness and can contribute to disparities in...

Quality assurance systems have been implemented or are under development in a number of low- and middle-income countries in an effort to observe the quality of education and deploy targeted measures to improve quality. This paper shares lessons learned on the potential ability of quality...

Globally, employment rates of women remain substantially below those of men. Since women disproportionately care for children, policies that offer care alternatives or lower the cost of care, should, theoretically, increase women's employment. This paper tests whether public pre-primary...

Innovations to date in detecting women's employment have focused primarily on improving individual-level questions. This paper explores an alternative approach, using data on household enterprises and asking who participates in these activities. This research uses the latest waves of the Labor...

The impact of the growth of the local supply of public schools in the post-Colonial period on intergenerational mobility in education is a first-order question in the Arab World. This question is examined in Jordan using a unique dataset that links individual data on own schooling and parents'...

Refugees face important barriers to participation in the formal market, which locks them in informal employment and makes them more vulnerable to shocks. Using data from Jordan, this paper compares the job finding and separation rates of Syrian refugees to those of their hosts before and after...