FYI
Nawaf Y. Husein
Faculty Member
Msc, CRP , CLBB
Saudi Training Society Member
Institute of Banking
Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency ( SAMA)
P.O.Box : 10820 Riyadh 11443 Saudi Arabia
Tel : + 966 1 463 3000 Ext. 3825
Fax: + 966 1 466 2368
Mobile : + 966 55 48 44 828
SKYPE : abuhejleh2
From: n.rotap@alahli.com
Subject: GCC Economic Review - Labor markets July 2012
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:33:51 +0000
To:
Dear readers,
Labor market policy has over the past year once again moved to the center stage of economic policy-making in the Gulf. This change is largely attributable to the reality that a period of relatively rapid economic growth in the region has not translated into substantial increases in the employment of nationals, although education and training has for years been an important spending priority for the GCC governments.
· Efficient labor markets are critical for the full utilization of human capital resources in an economy. The ability of labor market to place people into employment depends on a wide range of institutional and regulatory factors. Most fundamentally, however, proper mechanisms are needed to pool and disseminate information about job-seekers and vacancies. Labor exchanges – virtual or real – play a matching function between the two while ideally identifying areas where remedial action is needed in terms of retraining or other support.
· The GCC labor markets are characterized by a number of unique idiosyncrasies. The regional employment levels are internationally low, partly because of limited labor market participation by women. The nationals tend to have a strong bias in favor of public sector employment whereas the private sector is dominated by low-cost expatriate employees.
· Recent labor market initiatives in the region have been characterized by redoubled efforts to boost the employment of nationals. The failure of the pre-2008 boom to meaningfully translate faster growth into greater relative employment of nationals has spawned new initiatives designed to incentivize companies to boost national employment. Education remains a key priority area for government spending.
· Attitudes will need to change at the corporate level, likely in part with government support. Successful nationalization is conditional on more regional private sector companies changing their default modus operandi from 'import the employer you need' to 'develop the talent you require.' Significant progress in this is dependent on a major change in attitudes. Given the limited resources of many companies, the government may need to facilitate the process where appropriate and reward companies that properly engage and develop their national employees.
Regards,
Noel Rotap
Economics Department
The National Commercial Bank
PO Box 3555, Jeddah 21481
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Tel: +9662 646 3232
Fax: +9662 644 9783
eml: n.rotap@alahli.com
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