Nearly 24 million young Arabs could be unemployed, with an additional 75 million "in dire need of an economic future", according to a report by experts from the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The report "Addressing the 100 million Youth Challenge" was published yesterday at the WEF's meeting on the Middle East, North Africa and Eurasia in Istanbul, Turkey.
It is one of the gloomiest assessments so far of the prospects for employment in the region since the Arab Spring upheavals last year, which were largely sparked by poor economic prospects among young people
"With youth unemployment in the region higher than anywhere else in the world, there is a massive political and economic imperative to get Arab youths into work," said Miroslav Dusek, WEF's Middle East director.
The WEF report echoed that sentiment. "Job creation, a perennial challenge for the region, is compounded by its demographics, whereby 100 million young people between 15 and 29 years old, representing 30 per cent of its total population, are in dire need of an economic future which will support the conditions for human development," it said.
Youth unemployment stands at 24 per cent, said the WEF, double the world average. "Unemployment for many young people in the region has become a state of normalcy, with the average spell of unemployment in Egypt, for example, lasting nearly 34 months," said the WEF report.
The worsening employment situation in the region was blamed on high labour force growth, growing at 2.7 per cent per year in the Middle East, higher than any other part of the world except Africa, and the defects of education systems that failed to equip young people with employment skills.
The report also blames labour market rigidities, with large public-sector employers paying relatively high wages and offering better benefits than the private sector.
Oil exporters in the region will need to create an estimated 18.5 million jobs over the next decade "even though this would leave the ratio of employment to working-age population lower than that currently observed in any other region", the report said.
A second WEF report, "The role of large employers in driving job creation in the Arab World", was produced in collaboration with consultants Booz & Co and the Saudi petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Company.
"We need to act now. Government regulation-led initiatives alone are insufficient, a new paradigm is needed along with new capabilities," said Joe Saddi, the Booz chairman.
"The public sector needs to engage with the other main stakeholders, namely large employers and educators, to identify the attractive jobs, shape training programmes and attract investments to create employment opportunities."
The problem of unemployment, especially among women and young people, has been one of the main themes of the Istanbul forum.
Fouad Alaeddin, the Middle East managing partner for the international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, said there was a need to match supply and demand in Middle East workforces. "There is a lot of supply coming, and we need to control it. I'm not talking about the Chinese model, but through a programme of education. It is a huge political and cultural issue," he said.
Lubna Olayan, the chief executive of the Olayan Financing Company in Saudi Arabia, said female unemployment totalled 27 per cent in the kingdom, about four times the level for men. "More than half the graduates in Saudi are women, but it doesn't translate into employment. Most men believe in education for women, but not in employment," she added.
Fatma Sahin, the Turkish minister of family and social policies, said her government had been practicing "positive discrimination" in female employment for the past decade but there was still more to do. "There is the possibility that one billion women in the world will be unemployed in 2020, mainly in India and China," she said.
Muhtar Kent, the chief executive of Coca-Cola, said research had shown that ending discrimination against women in employment would boost global productivity by 40 per cent.
fkane@thenational.ae
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
MATCH INFO
Jersey 147 (20 overs)
UAE 112 (19.2 overs)
Jersey win by 35 runs
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Friday's schedule at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
GP3 qualifying, 10:15am
Formula 2, practice 11:30am
Formula 1, first practice, 1pm
GP3 qualifying session, 3.10pm
Formula 1 second practice, 5pm
Formula 2 qualifying, 7pm
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Jawan
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S24%20ULTRA
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UAE players with central contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Adnan Mufti, Mohammed Usman, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Amir Hayat, Mohammed Naveed and Imran Haider.
Company%20profile
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UAE SQUAD
Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah), Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Yousef Jaber (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalifa Al Hammadi (Jazira), Salem Rashid (Jazira), Shaheen Abdelrahman (Sharjah), Faris Juma (Al Wahda), Mohammed Shaker (Al Ain), Mohammed Barghash (Wahda), Abdulaziz Haikal (Shabab Al Ahli), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Khamis Esmail (Wahda), Khaled Bawazir (Sharjah), Majed Surour (Sharjah), Abdullah Ramadan (Jazira), Mohammed Al Attas (Jazira), Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Khalfan Mubarak (Jazira), Habib Fardan (Nasr), Khalil Ibrahim (Wahda), Ali Mabkhout (Jazira), Ali Saleh (Wasl), Caio (Al Ain), Sebastian Tagliabue (Nasr).
How to increase your savings
- Have a plan for your savings.
- Decide on your emergency fund target and once that's achieved, assign your savings to another financial goal such as saving for a house or investing for retirement.
- Decide on a financial goal that is important to you and put your savings to work for you.
- It's important to have a purpose for your savings as it helps to keep you motivated to continue while also reducing the temptation to spend your savings.
- Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Read more from Johann Chacko
THE SCORES
Ireland 125 all out
(20 overs; Stirling 72, Mustafa 4-18)
UAE 125 for 5
(17 overs, Mustafa 39, D’Silva 29, Usman 29)
UAE won by five wickets
MATCH INFO
Manchester United v Manchester City, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match is on BeIN Sports
What is a calorie?
A food calorie, or kilocalorie, is a measure of nutritional energy generated from what is consumed.
One calorie, is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1°C.
A kilocalorie represents a 1,000 true calories of energy.
Energy density figures are often quoted as calories per serving, with one gram of fat in food containing nine calories, and a gram of protein or carbohydrate providing about four.
Alcohol contains about seven calories a gram.
Martin Sabbagh profile
Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East
In the role: Since January 2015
Lives: In the UAE
Background: M&A, investment banking
Studied: Corporate finance
RESULT
Wolves 1 (Traore 67')
Tottenham 2 (Moura 8', Vertonghen 90 1')
Man of the Match: Adama Traore (Wolves)
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
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New Zealand 57-0 South Africa
Tries: Rieko Ioane, Nehe Milner-Skudder (2), Scott Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Ofa Tu'ungfasi, Lima Sopoaga, Codie Taylor. Conversions: Beauden Barrett (7). Penalty: Beauden Barrett
