In the Middle East and North Africa, unequal opportunities occur in both the education system and
the labor market. The outcomes that individuals achieve in the labor market depend on
circumstances beyond their control, such as gender or parents’ education, as well as the effort they
expend in succeeding in the education system and in the labor market itself. The extent to which
outcomes depend on circumstances outside an individual’s control is typically referred to as
inequality of opportunity. It could be that unequal opportunities in the labor market are due to
unequal human capital (pre-market inequality) or, alternatively, to individuals being treated
unequally in the labor market even after accounting for differences in their human capital (inmarket
inequality). This paper tests whether there is in-market inequality of opportunity in Egypt
and Jordan, focusing on the labor market experiences of higher education graduates. Specifically,
the paper examines whether a number of labor market outcomes are affected by circumstances,
such as family background, gender, and place of birth, after carefully controlling for the type and
quality of human capital an individual possesses. We find that substantial in-market inequality
exists in both settings, but more so in Egypt, suggesting that the functioning of the labor market
itself is a substantial source of inequality of opportunity.