Market Assessment in Saida & Nabatieh Districts: Identifying Income Generating Opportunities in Agro-Food & Environment Saida

The labour market in Lebanon continues to be characterized by high unemployment rates, amidst the Syrian Crisis in its seventh year. While World Bank estimates the national unemployment rate to be 11%, the Ministry of Labor reports an even higher estimate, 25% national unemployment rate with 37% for youth under 35 years of age, and 18% for women.

The picture in the South does not differ much from the national one. The official statistics indicate 65% of the Palestinians and 89% of Syrian Palestinian refugees are living below the poverty line and adopting negative coping strategies, be it selling household goods, cutting food intake, or withdrawing children from schools. Improving the situation of such vulnerable communities requires support to integrate in the labour market, and access income-generating opportunities, in high performing economic sectors that are strategic to the regions and those that provide both employment and business opportunities.

Identifying such high performing economic sectors required an assessment, carried out by PU-AMI to understand the current labor market in Saida, Nabatieh, and Jezzine districts, through interviews with different stakeholders, namely small and medium enterprises and identify opportunities for supporting vulnerable populations to access market opportunities, whether employment or self-employment, providing recommendations to the organization on how to increase access to such opportunities and develop programs that lead to meaningful impact within the coming two years.