Abu Dhabi: GCC countries must address unemployment, which is threatening social and economic stability, academics and officials said at a regional conference on education and labour market on Monday.
Dr Obaid Mohammad Al Saeedi, Dean of the Higher College of Technology in Oman, said all government and private sector bodies should join forces with educational and training institutes to tackle unemployment which poses "a real threat to socio-economic stability and balance".
He was speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of the annual conference of the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies (ECSSR) and Research.
He estimated that 435,000 graduates are unemployed in GCC countries, warning that the numbers may go up to 2 million in the next decade unless decisive measures are taken to resolve unemployment, including wide-ranging reforms to education and the labour market.
Estimates
In the next 10 years, 100,000 Emiratis will be seeking employment, including 70,000 in Abu Dhabi, according to estimates of Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council.
Al Saeedi said the nationalisation process in the GCC must be addressed seriously in term of labour market, investment or economy and society.
He noted jobseekers in Oman increased to 88,000 by the end of 2008, from 24,000 by the end of 2007.
Majid Al Alawi, Bahrain's Minister of Labour chastised the education system in the GCC countries saying it has nothing to do with requirements of the labour market.
He also criticised the labour market, which employs 40 per cent of foreign workers in the construction sector and contributes only eight per cent to the GDP.
The minister said his country's unemployment rate had dropped from 16 per cent to four per cent in three years.
Dr Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, professor of political science at the UAE University, said the labour market in GCC countries must be overhauled.
"For the past 20 to 30 years, we have been thinking the problem was the education system and thus focused our effort on reforms to education. But this was wrong. It was putting the cart before the horse."
Dr Ahmad Al Eisa, President of Al Yamamah University, Saudi Arabia, said the education system in GCC countries has not addressed the challenge of matching programmes and higher education institutions to the needs of economic, social and cultural development and the setting up of an infrastructure capable of attracting global talent in teaching and research.
However, he added GCC states are experiencing an unprecedented boom in education after depending for years on traditional state universities, which did not provide solutions to the regional challenges in human resource development, or address their limited use of scientific research.
Professor Jim Mienczakowski, executive director of higher education at Abu Dhabi Education Council, said in seeking to meet the rapidly expanding and diversified needs of a growing knowledge economy, higher education in the UAE has become pivotal in the strategic ambition to provide a sustainable supply of locally-trained knowledge workers relevant to the nation's long term ambitions.
Concern
"However, within the UAE (and Gulf region in general) largely unranked, non-research focused higher education institutions abound. Of the leading international institutions opening their doors in the region, student access and student quality remain concerns."
Nasser Mohammad Al Masri, consultant at the Arab Science and Technology Foundation, rejected a labour market-driven education and said citizens of the GCC countries must be given the freedom to choose the type of education they need.
Challenges faced by GCC countries:
- Successfully aligning education and workforce requirements
- Retaining and improving retention strategies during recessionary times to achieve Return on Investment
- Effectively recruiting citizens strategically for success
- Making nationalisation programmes work efficiently
- Exploring career planning, development and succession planning strategies
- Growing citizens as future leaders
- Effectively recruiting, engaging and retaining nationals in the private sector
- Attracting citizens to non-traditional career
- Winning expatriate support for nationalisation programmes
Recommendations:
- Improve access to education and training for citizens
- Extend support to vocational and technical training institutes
- Education and training policies designed to be responsive to GCC labour market requirements
- Focus on enhancing work/labour values and creating appropriate opportunities, by developing and implementing an educational strategy
- Provide consultation services for small and medium enterprises (SMEs);
- Improve the link between training, education and nationalisation strategies
- Focus on vocational orientation and guidance
- Create a culture of entrepreneurship in the minds of young businessmen/women, by supporting the establishment of small projects, encouraging youth to do their own businesses and enhance the skills that will support this trend
- Control the process of foreign workforce employment, define their numbers, and proficiencies according to the labour market requirements, economic growth rates, and nationalisation plans
- Coordinate the employment of expatriate workforce between concerned Government agencies
- Bridge the gap between private and public sector incentives and benefits
- Review the labour legislation system in the GCC States
- Agree common terms and concepts related to data related to labour market issues
- Enhance efforts for conducting studies and research related to manpower in the private sector
- Coordinate efforts between different government agencies concerned with labour market issues to facilitate the flow of information
- Source: Statistical bulletin of the GCC General Secretariat, ECSSR Conference
