The global economic slowdown could ignite a new jobs crisis in the Middle East as demographic pressures reach all-time highs, placing unprecedented strain on the region’s labour markets, a new report says.

The report by the Middle East Youth Initiative says that in spite of the recent oil boom youth unemployment levels in the Middle East have remained the highest among developing regions, with the aggregate unemployment rate for 15 to 24-year-olds at nearly 25 per cent, compared with a world average of 14 per cent.