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Job Creation Key to Stability in the Arab World
Arab States need to do more to meet the rising demand for jobs in their countries, a key cause of the protests that swept across the region over the last two years and led to the toppling of four leaders, or risk exacerbating social and economic tensions, according to a report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“The turmoil in several countries in the Arab States is a reminder that people, especially the young, who are better educated and healthier than previous generations put a high premium on meaningful employment, on exercising a voice in affairs that influence their lives, and on being treated with respect,” said the UNDP’s 2013 Human Development Report— The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World.
The Arab world has one of the highest rates of unemployment and continues to face key deficits in the acquisition of knowledge; political freedoms; and women’s empowerment. The region has the lowest employment-to-population ratio of 52.6 percent, below the world average of 65.8 percent. Egypt has the highest youth unemployment at 54.1 percent followed by the Palestinian territories at 49.6 percent.
The report monitors human progress, through a composite (HDI) of various indicators that look at life expectancy, educational attainment, and command over the resources needed for a decent living. The average HDI value for the region of 0.652 is below the world average of 0.694 and below the averages for East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were the only two Arab countries to rank in the very high human development group while Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Lebanon, Oman, Algeria and Tunisia were in the high human development group; and Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Syria, Morocco and Iraq placed in the medium human development group; and Yemen, Djibouti and Sudan are in the low human development group.
Between 2000 and 2012, the Arab world registered annual growth of 0.94 percent in HDI value, placing it fourth in comparison to other regions. Looking at individual countries in the region, Yemen achieved the fastest growth (1.66 percent), followed by Morocco with 1.2 percent and Algeria, 1.1 percent.
The region’s average life expectancy at birth is 71.0 years, about a year higher than the world average and places the region ahead of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa regions. The region’s average mean years of schooling of six years is 1.3 years higher than those of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa regions but 1.5 years below the World average and over four years below the average for Europe and Central Asia.
Massoud A. Derhally
Arabian Business