Development discourse frames youth in the Arab world as lacking in the skills needed for employment and educational institutions as failing. The “skills mismatch” is offered as both the reason for unemployment, and evidence of the poor quality of education in the region. This paper undertakes a genealogy of the skills mismatch discourse, tracing how it became central to education development policy with a focus on Jordan.

We show that this discourse lacks analysis of prevailing labor force dynamics and barriers to economic development, and serves to blame youth, educators, and local culture for the failures of economic restructuring.

中文翻译：

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教育水平低，失业和技能承诺：“技能不匹配”话语霸权

发展话语将阿拉伯世界的青年视为缺乏就业和教育机构所需技能的失败者。提供“技能不匹配”既是失业的原因，又是该地区教育质量差的证据。本文对技能不匹配的话语进行了谱系分析，追溯了它如何成为以约旦为重点的教育发展政策的中心。

我们表明，这种话语缺乏对现行劳动力动态和经济发展障碍的分析，并且将经济结构调整的失败归咎于青年，教育者和当地文化。