By Masood Ahmed
(Version in عربي)
The issue of how to create more jobs is high on the minds of policymakers everywhere. The economies of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—are no exception.
By many measures, these economies are doing very well. Abundant oil and gas reserves are producing large budget and external surpluses, growth is up, and considerable strides have been made on social indicators.
Yet, economic activity is dominated by the oil/gas sector and—given that many GCC countries have proven reserves of at least another 50–100 years at current rates of production—will remain so. However, that sector creates relatively few jobs directly—it employs less than 3 percent of the region’s labor force.
Filed under: Employment, growth, International Monetary Fund, Middle East, عربي | Tagged: Bahrain, economic diversification, employment, GCC, Gulf Cooperation Council, IMF, iMFdirect, International Monetary Fund, jobs, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, unemployment, United Arab Emirates | 3 Comments »
