This study provides an institutional assessment of Public Employment Services (PES) in a selected group of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and compiles an inventory of the programs they provide. Data included in this study were collected through faceto- face interviews with officers from the national PES in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan between January 2010 and June 2011. Results indicate the PES in a typical MENA country faces a number of severe problems: it lacks proper funding, is understaffed, and is heavily constrained by a fragmented network of micro-credit and training institutions. Moreover, many PES in the region operate in a very difficult environment of demand-deficient labor markets, double-digit unemployment rates, and high rates of informal employment. According to the data collected, most PES in the region provide a variety of programs, such as training, entrepreneurship promotion, direct job creation (i.e. public works), and employment incentives (such as wage subsidies). Labor intermediation remains largely undeveloped while in-class vocational training continues to be the main type of program provided by PES in MENA (targeting mainly high-skilled unemployed youth). Nevertheless, in recent years, many PES in MENA have scaled-up entrepreneurship and employment incentive programs. Most PES in the region do not have access to labor market information systems, to results-based monitoring, and/or to scientific methods for program evaluation. As such, despite important investments and a variety of services provided, the impact of most employment programs provided by PES in MENA remains largely un-assessed.