Imagine landing your dream engineering role at one of Silicon Valley's top technology companies - from your apartment in Riyadh, Cairo, or Beirut. This dream is now within reach for thousands in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), provided they have the right skills.

The Digital Wave is Here

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, MENA has experienced a surge in digital transformation. Tunisia, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia have emerged as frontrunners in embracing digitalization and streamlining service delivery. For instance, the Absher platform in Saudi Arabia provides over 300 e-government services (including digital IDs, passports, authentication) to 24 million users. Egypt’s YES (Youth Employment Support) program leverages AI and digital technologies to provide career counselling and employment services to young people.

The World Bank’s recent flagship report Embracing and Shaping Change: Human Development for a Middle East and North Africa in Transition, shows that the region’s exposure to AI-driven change is higher than many other regions, including Latin America, South Asia, and even some parts of Europe and Central Asia. This is driven by a combination of factors: a young, tech-savvy population; ambitious national digital strategies; and significant investments in digital public infrastructure,  education, and inclusion. In some of the region’s most dynamic economies, such as the United Arab Emirates, as much as 33% of occupations are classified as highly exposed to AI, among the highest rates globally. In Saudi Arabia, women constitute 51% of the technology labor market.

The Skills MENA Employers Seek – and Can’t Find

Here’s the catch: this digital wave demands a new set of skills. Employers across MENA are crying out for digital talent. A recent study, “Green and Digital Skills: A Pathway to Jobs in MENA,” highlights this urgent need, revealing that between 2022 and 2023, nearly one in three jobs advertised online in the region required at least one digital skill.

And it’s not just tech companies. Digital skills are now essential in finance, retail, manufacturing, healthcare—and even agriculture. Coding, programming, and computer science are in high demand, but the need goes deeper. The study points out that nearly a quarter (23%) of digital jobs in the region are now seeking AI-specific skills. 

In another regional study on digital skills for jobs, the analysis of online job vacancies through platforms such as Lightcast and LinkedIn indicated that, for Saudi Arabia, AI talent hiring relative to overall hiring is close to 29% in 2024. This should come as no surprise, as the Kingdom had attracted more than $40 billion in foreign direct investment  from so-called AI and cloud computing hyperscalers (Google, AWS, MS, NVIDIA, Huwaei, Oracle, etc.) in the same year.

The Digital Skills Gap: A Growing Concern

Unfortunately, the demand for digital and AI skills far outpaces supply. Surveys show that nearly 70% of CEOs in the region view the shortage of key digital skills as a major business threat.  At the same time, there has been little change in the delivery of education and training services in the region to meet the fast-evolving demand for digital skills. Consider this: in a recent survey of young people in Egypt (17–34-year-olds), 97% claimed that digital literacy is as important as traditional literacy skills (forthcoming). At the same time, 63% felt that digital skills were only available to those with a Master's degree. In Morocco,  the new national digital strategy aims to substantially increase the number of people with digital skills each year, targeting the development of 50,000 talents annually by2026 and 100,000 by 2030. This initiative is designed to support the government’s digitalization efforts and the forthcoming regional AI Center of Excellence.

Bridging the Gap: A Roadmap for Action

So in light of all of this, what can countries in the Middle East and North Africa do to address the digital skills gap? 

1. Make digital skills foundational: Digital skills need to be seen as foundational, not optional. By introducing digital skills early in life (primary or secondary grades), education systems will equip a much larger share of students to be proficient and adaptable with digital skills.
2. Facilitate a skills eco-system, governments should think of facilitating an eco-system for digital skilling, rather than merely providing training.
3. Offer quick skilling-solutions, in the form of short-term courses, bootcamps, eLearning modules and stackable credentials for customizable skill profiles and "just-in-time" skilling.
4. Understand the supply and demand gaps in the digital skills arena better. To examine the use of technology and AI for job creation in the region, a forthcoming study, MENA Digital Skills for Jobs Assessment, will map supply and demand for digital skills, helping countries in the region understand what employers want and what students are learning. The study also highlights the importance of mapping skills, running boot camps, and leveraging partnerships (e.g., AWS Educate, Code.org) to reform curricula and connect students to high-demand tech jobs.

The Future Is Digital—and It’s Now

As MENA economies diversify and innovate, digital and AI skills are emerging as the new currency of employability. These skills promise not only better jobs but also the potential to unlock economic growth and resilience in a region undergoing profound transformation. Not just that, but MENA has a real opportunity to pioneer human-augmenting digitization / AI, rather than human-replacing technology. For this, digital skills would be critical.  For jobseekers, investors and policymakers alike, the message is clear: the future of work in MENA is digital, and the time to invest in these skills is now.