http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21567128-recent-government-efforts-create-jobs-may-store-up-trouble-future-where
This past summer I read Sean Foley's The Arab Gulf States: Beyond Oil and Islam,which I recommend to anyone pursuing work/study/vacation in the Gulf region. He dedicates a chapter to the role of women in his book and talks about the expat workforce throughout his historical narrative of the Gulf. One he makes clear: a majority of native Gulf Arab men don't want to work in the private sector and women don't have the opportunity to have professional jobs Instead a large portion of private sector work is filled up by expatriate laborers from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Walk down the streets of Dubai and I bet you will be able to count the number of Arab Emiraties with one hand. I believe Foley even said the amount of expats in the Gulf numbers over 3 million, which is larger than the native Arab populations of the UAE and Oman.
According to Foley most Gulf Arabs would rather work for the government while women are not socially expected to work outside the home. He writes about the problem that Gulf Arab youth aren't qualified enough, take their education seriously enough, nor want to work to start a career in the private sector. The high managerial positions along with the lower paying positions in the private sectors are left for expats. This proves to be a huge problem for the governments of the Gulf States. The reliance on foreigners to build infrastructure means large populations of expats. These populations have already shown their influence in the UAE in the past decade when expatriate workers protested low wages and mistreatment. Protests like this left stores and businesses closed. Their actions also sent a message to the government that maybe native citizens need to take up more jobs. As a result of their protests expat labor is more expensive and now host governments have to acknowledge more expat rights and provide more benefits to them than in previous decades.
The article I posted from foreign policy talks about problem with employing Emiratie youth. The reason I focus on the UAE is because the expat population is so large. This Link from 2011 reported that expats were close to 90% of the population in the UAE. Finding employment for Emiratie youth is exceedingly difficult with such a large expat population. However another problem is that most youth don't need to work. The rentier state is to blame. In the Foreign Policy article it stated that per capita GDP was near $90,000, right behind Qatar's $94,000. Government handouts and subsidies are so great that Emiratie youth don't have any incentive to work a low paying job in the private sector.
Since the 1970's the Gulf States have attempted to "Arabize" the private sector with pressuring businesses to hire local Arab nationals instead of expatriates. So far those efforts have failed and become worse. Dubai again is a prime example being that it's huge skyscrapers and downright amazing building feats were built by expat labor and continues to be. Government's haven't been able to attract their Arab citizens to do the low paying jobs and qualified professionals are hard to come by. So what is the solution if male Arab youth aren't qualified or don't want to work? Foley and I share the same opinion: let women who are qualified and want to work have the opportunity to do so. Him and I aren't talking about construction work, we are talking about the professions requiring higher education.
He wrote in his book about how Gulf Arab women are more educated and qualified than there male peers. The only problem is that society puts such harsh sanctions against them getting full time professional jobs. I have heard from multiple Arabs in the Gulf how women have better grades in high school, attend college and out perform the males peers. The problem is that once they graduate from college they go on to get married, have kids, and stay at home raising them. I'm not against parenthood or marriage but in the case of the Gulf any aspirations for a women to get professional career after graduation are severely looked down upon. I really think the employment of women could be a huge boon to the "Arabization" of the private sector.
This problem of employment is only going to get worse as oil runs out and Gulf States can't provide the same amount of subsidies as they have done in the past. Men are going to have to work the hard jobs and earn their money. The other problem is what jobs are going to be available as the youth populations grow? Although the Foreign Policy article explained the UAE had quickly made jobs for their citizens it will only be more difficult to do in the coming years.
This past summer I read Sean Foley's The Arab Gulf States: Beyond Oil and Islam,which I recommend to anyone pursuing work/study/vacation in the Gulf region. He dedicates a chapter to the role of women in his book and talks about the expat workforce throughout his historical narrative of the Gulf. One he makes clear: a majority of native Gulf Arab men don't want to work in the private sector and women don't have the opportunity to have professional jobs Instead a large portion of private sector work is filled up by expatriate laborers from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Walk down the streets of Dubai and I bet you will be able to count the number of Arab Emiraties with one hand. I believe Foley even said the amount of expats in the Gulf numbers over 3 million, which is larger than the native Arab populations of the UAE and Oman.
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/incoming/article400655.ece/ALTERNATES/g3l/57238715.jpg
According to Foley most Gulf Arabs would rather work for the government while women are not socially expected to work outside the home. He writes about the problem that Gulf Arab youth aren't qualified enough, take their education seriously enough, nor want to work to start a career in the private sector. The high managerial positions along with the lower paying positions in the private sectors are left for expats. This proves to be a huge problem for the governments of the Gulf States. The reliance on foreigners to build infrastructure means large populations of expats. These populations have already shown their influence in the UAE in the past decade when expatriate workers protested low wages and mistreatment. Protests like this left stores and businesses closed. Their actions also sent a message to the government that maybe native citizens need to take up more jobs. As a result of their protests expat labor is more expensive and now host governments have to acknowledge more expat rights and provide more benefits to them than in previous decades.
The article I posted from foreign policy talks about problem with employing Emiratie youth. The reason I focus on the UAE is because the expat population is so large. This Link from 2011 reported that expats were close to 90% of the population in the UAE. Finding employment for Emiratie youth is exceedingly difficult with such a large expat population. However another problem is that most youth don't need to work. The rentier state is to blame. In the Foreign Policy article it stated that per capita GDP was near $90,000, right behind Qatar's $94,000. Government handouts and subsidies are so great that Emiratie youth don't have any incentive to work a low paying job in the private sector.
Since the 1970's the Gulf States have attempted to "Arabize" the private sector with pressuring businesses to hire local Arab nationals instead of expatriates. So far those efforts have failed and become worse. Dubai again is a prime example being that it's huge skyscrapers and downright amazing building feats were built by expat labor and continues to be. Government's haven't been able to attract their Arab citizens to do the low paying jobs and qualified professionals are hard to come by. So what is the solution if male Arab youth aren't qualified or don't want to work? Foley and I share the same opinion: let women who are qualified and want to work have the opportunity to do so. Him and I aren't talking about construction work, we are talking about the professions requiring higher education.
He wrote in his book about how Gulf Arab women are more educated and qualified than there male peers. The only problem is that society puts such harsh sanctions against them getting full time professional jobs. I have heard from multiple Arabs in the Gulf how women have better grades in high school, attend college and out perform the males peers. The problem is that once they graduate from college they go on to get married, have kids, and stay at home raising them. I'm not against parenthood or marriage but in the case of the Gulf any aspirations for a women to get professional career after graduation are severely looked down upon. I really think the employment of women could be a huge boon to the "Arabization" of the private sector.
This problem of employment is only going to get worse as oil runs out and Gulf States can't provide the same amount of subsidies as they have done in the past. Men are going to have to work the hard jobs and earn their money. The other problem is what jobs are going to be available as the youth populations grow? Although the Foreign Policy article explained the UAE had quickly made jobs for their citizens it will only be more difficult to do in the coming years.
http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/wp-content/uploads/DubaiLaborers.jpg
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-arabia-struggles-to-employ-its-most-educated-women/2012/11/12/b8f30c34-2a87-11e2-96b6-8e6a7524553f_story.html?wpmk=MK0000200
ReplyDeletei thought this was a cool article about how saudi is investing their women to get educations, often abroad, but not facilitating finding work. the article gives figures of 86% of saudis receiving unemployment benefits are women, and 40% of that number are college grads. seems kind of silly right? that these people are desperately looking for work, but their skills are essentially wasted because of cultural stigmas.