Many believe in making new resolutions in the new year. They do so willingly and happily.
But apparently there are others who only make critical decisions when forced to do so by circumstance. Among those in this category, it seems, are Arab countries.
The Arab region entered the new decade already carrying a heavy burden — high unemployment and massive poverty.
It is becoming clear that both problems are no longer issues that can be put on hold. Although unemployment is a global problem, it takes a more acute form in the Arab region. Some argue that Arab countries have already taken too long in discussing how to tackle unemployment. They were supposed to be already engaged in the implementation of a plan of action, as these are old and long-known problems.
At the same time, some analysts and economic experts say the solution rests in dealing with the problem from a wider prism rather than from an individual perspective.
"It [unemployment] should be looked at from a purely nationalistic perspective, and not a regional one," Fat'hi Al Arouri, a Jordanian professor of demography and manpower planning, said. "There should be a central [Arab] committee specially to deal with unemployment and coordinate among Arab countries," he added.
Common problem
Unemployment, he says, is a common problem among all Arab states, although with variations. While it is lowest in rich countries such as the oil and gas producing Gulf states, it reaches higher levels in less wealthy nations, or countries with lower incomes, such as Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
According to a report titled Development Challenges for the Arab Region: a Human Development Approach, unemployment among youths in Arab countries is "the highest in the world"
The situation is only going to get worse unless action is taken. Arab countries must provide 51 million new jobs over the next 10 years, according to a report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Arab League.
The required millions of job opportunities are not expected to reduce the high unemployment rate, but rather will "contribute to preventing its increase and maintaining it at current levels until 2020," said the report, which was released late last year.
The report goes on to say that "the proportion of young people of the total unemployed population is more than 50 per cent for most Arab countries."
At the same time, nearly 40 per cent of Arabs, about 140 million people, live below the poverty line.
As poverty goes hand in hand with unemployment, economists say a rapid Arab unified strategy aimed at controlling spiralling unemployment rates is needed.
"Attracting investments should be the core of such a strategy," Al Arouri said.
"It is supposed that each country should work on directing these investments towards the most productive sectors in that country's economy."
Again, even the economic productive sectors differ from country to country, economists say. Therefore, diversity is required, and it will not necessarily be the same sectors that produce job opportunities among the Arab countries.
The agricultural sector has great potential for some countries, including Egypt, which has nearly a quarter of the Arab population. The industrial sector, including petrochemical and manufacturing industries, has a promising future in other countries, such as Saudi Arabia.
Other countries including the UAE excel in the field of the travel trade. And while tourism constitutes a backbone for some Arab countries, like Lebanon, other countries, including Jordan, stand out in students graduating in certain fields including nursing and IT studies.
But Arab countries face the issue of choosing between labour intensive projects and capital intensive projects.
Labour intensive projects are capable of creating more jobs, but will limit the technological advancement of the Arab world, making it incapable of competition in international markets, which creates a marketing problem.
On the other hand, capital intensive projects have high costs but help increase competitiveness in the market place. However, they do not create job opportunities in the short term. Instead, they accelerate the economy's wheel, which in turn will create more jobs in the future.
Meanwhile, strategies to deal with unemployment among the young lies in improving the quality of education in Arab countries, which need to tailor the skills of these young graduates to match the needs of the market.
Developing the private sector, improving domestic labour market institutions, achieving a stable macroeconomic environment and sustained high economic growth rates are also among the main goals of any strategy to deal with unemployment and eradicating poverty.
Brain drain
Furthermore, achieving high and sustainable rates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are also needed in the medium and long term to allow governments to increase public expenditure on health, education and other basic social services. Poor labour conditions in some places have created another employment problem, where people are employed but not productive.
Researchers noted during a conference on Arab development held late last year in Dubai that some Arab countries also face a serious "brain drain" as many young educated people leave their home countries due to a lack of career opportunities.
"Money alone is not enough to improve the product of the education sector in the Arab countries," said Dr Ziad Abdullah Al Drees, permanent delegate of Saudi Arabia to Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.)
"We should pay more attention to the quality of offered programmes and the cadre supervising the development of the education programmes to assure us that our education is fine."
