Human Capital And The Future Of The Gulf

Extensive efforts to develop human capital are under way in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the Gulf, and they are increasingly setting expectations for how people ought to behave socially and economically that are in tension with how they are expected to behave politically. The tensions created by governments’ conflicting aims can produce frustration, a sense of entitlement, or apathy among young people entering the labor force, each of which poses different potential political challenges for governments. Navigating this tension—or finding ways to create space for genuine innovation and risk taking within that constrained political context—will be among the most important strategic challenges for the region’s leaders and people in the next 10 years.

The six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have achieved substantial development progress in recent decades, as is evidenced by their high rankings within the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index (HDI). Despite these achievements, however, the process of development in the GCC states still faces numerous challenges, the most significant of which relate to national human resources. Indeed, it is fair to say that the success of ongoing development efforts in the GCC states will largely be decided by how they manage, employ and develop their human capital. This book comprises a valuable collection of the papers presented at the ECSSR 14th Annual Conference, “Human Resources and Development in the Arabian Gulf,” held in Abu Dhabi on February 2–4, 2009. The papers contained herein represent a contemporary examination of: the different development strategies available to the GCC states; the challenges facing human resource development in the GCC countries; the problems facing GCC labor markets; opportunities and potential for investment in human capital; the many obstacles to sustainable development in the Gulf; and other relevant topics.

The formation of human capital--the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lifetimes--is critical for the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Human capital contributes not only to human development and employment but also to the long-term sustainability of a diversified economic growth model that is knowledge based and private sector driven. This approach is critical, given that income from oil and gas will eventually decline and that the nature of work is evolving in response to rapid technological changes, in turn demanding new skill sets. The GCC governments have demonstrated their strong political will for this shift: four of them are among the first countries to join the World Bank’s Human Capital Project—a global effort to improve investments in people as measured by the Human Capital Index. The GCC countries face four main challenges: • Low levels of basic proficiency among schoolchildren • A mismatch between education and the labor market • A relatively high rate of adult mortality and morbidity • A unique labor market , in which wages in the public sector are more generous than in the private sector and government employment of nationals is virtually guaranteed To address these challenges, this report outlines four strategies in a“whole-of-government†? approach: • Investing in high-quality early childhood development • Preparing healthier, better educated, and skilled youth for the future • Enabling greater adult labor force participation • Creating an enabling environment for human capital formation These strategies are based on best practices in other countries and feature some of the GCC countries’ plans, including their national “Visions,†? to take their economies and societies further into the twenty-first century. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the GCC countries face additional challenges that may worsen some preexisting vulnerabilities and erode human capital. In response, the GCC governments have taken multiple measures to protect their populations’ health and their economies. Any country’s decision to reopen its economy needs to closely consider public health consequences to avoid a resurgence of infections and any further erosion of its human capital. The COVID-19 crisis underscores that the need to accelerate and improve investment in human capital has never been greater. Once the GCC countries return to a “new normal,†? they will be in a position to achieve diversified and sustainable growth by adopting, and then tailoring, the strategies presented in this report.

The six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have in recent decades experienced substantial and rapid development progress, as evidence by their high rankings in the United Nation's Development Programme's Human Development Index (HDI). But despite these achievements, the process of development in the GCC still faces numerous challenges, the most significant of which relate to national human resources. This volume therefore offers an extensive examination of the different development strategies available to the GCC states in the face of the challenges of human resource development, the problems facing GCC labour markets, the opportunities and potential for investment in human capital and the many obstacles to sustainable development in the Gulf. This book will be an essential resource for those involved in the most important issues and debates for the future of human resources and development in the Gulf, the Middle East and wider developing world. -- Product Description.

Providing evidence of the role of human capital on innovation in the Middle East, this edited collection closely examines the unique nature of the workforce in this region. It highlights the challenges that the United Arab Emirates faces in becoming more globally competitive, with emphasis on its unique socio-cultural context and a rapidly changing institutional set up. Filling a growing need for research – particularly in the context of the UAE’s ambition to become one of the world’s most innovative countries – the authors address six main themes: happiness; employee incentives; the restructuring and integration of employees; inclusion and diversity; employer and nation branding; and human capital and innovation. This book examines the global best practices firms in the UAE need to adopt in order to overcome weaknesses, setting an agenda for future research in the context of human capital and human resource management for the UAE.

This book delves into the economic development of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Since the 1960s, the GCC states have harnessed their potential to exploit the wealth accrued from the oil boom to build their infrastructure and grow their economies. However, the high level of dependency on oil as the primary source feeding their output made their economies volatile and vulnerable to fluctuations in the global oil prices. Moreover, the plunge in oil prices and the threat of depletion of this natural resource pose serious challenges to the GCC countries. Consequently, the GCC governments have realized the importance of diversifying their economies following the need to move away from reliance on hydrocarbon. This book contributes to the theoretical literature by enriching the debate on the transition of the GCC countries from rentier states to diversified economies. It helps students and scholars understand this transformation with an expansive comprehension of the contemporary challenges facing the region, as well as outlining prospects for the future.

Countries in the Arab region are faced with the challenge of developing their populations' skills and technical knowledge, or human capital, in order to compete in the 21st century global economy. The authors describe the education and labor market initiatives implemented or under way in four countries in the Arab region-Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-to address the human resource issues they each face as they prepare their countries for a place in the 21st century global economy. Three of these countries-Oman, Qatar, and the UAE-are in the Arabian Gulf; the fourth, L.

Abstract: The economies of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are heavily reliant on oil. Greater economic diversification would reduce their exposure to volatility and uncertainty in the global oil market, help create jobs in the private sector, increase productivity and sustainable growth, and help create the non-oil economy that will be needed in the future when oil revenues start to dwindle. The GCC countries have followed many of the standard policies that are usually thought to promote more diversified economies, including reforms to improve the business climate, the development of domestic infrastructure, financial deepening, and improvements in education. Nevertheless, success to date has been limited. This paper argues that increased diversification will require realigning incentives for firms and workers in the economies—fixing these incentives is the “missing link” in the GCC countries’ diversification strategies. At present, producing non-tradables is less risky and more profitable for firms as they can benefit from the easy availability of low-wage foreign labor and the rapid growth in government spending, while the continued availability of high-paying and secure public sector jobs discourages nationals from pursuing entrepreneurship and private sector employment. Measures to begin to address these incentive issues could include limiting and reorienting government spending, strengthening private sector competition, providing guarantees and financial support for those firms engaged in export activity, and implementing labor market reforms to make nationals more competitive for private sector employment.