Sustainable Trends in Decent Work and Economic Growth: A Comprehensive Analysis of GCC Countries

Hiyam Abdulrahim, Mohammed Gebrail, Manal Elhaj and Jawaher Binsuwadan ()
Additional contact information
Hiyam Abdulrahim: Department of Economics, College of Business Administration, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
Mohammed Gebrail: Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
Manal Elhaj: Department of Economics, College of Business Administration, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
Jawaher Binsuwadan: Department of Economics, College of Business Administration, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 19, 1-18

Abstract: Decent work is essential for fostering workers’ professional and personal growth, as well as for guaranteeing social security and welfare through the enforcement of rules and regulations. Recently, the global labour market has been profoundly influenced by technological innovations, the growth of the services sector, and globalization. Consequently, the protection of fundamental workers’ rights has become increasingly important, establishing that decent employment is crucial for generating superior and higher-quality output. In the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, there is an increasing necessity to acknowledge the significance of decent work conditions for sustained economic development. This study aims to examine the influence of decent work determinants on sustained economic development from 1991 to 2022. The analysis employs panel data methodologies, specifically cross-sectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag models, alongside robustness assessments utilising Driscoll–Kraay standard errors, Augmented Mean Group, and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group estimators, revealing that GDP per employee exerts a significant and consistent positive influence on economic growth. Conversely, other aspects of decent work, including unemployment, vulnerable employment, and self-employment, do not have statistically significant long-term consequences. The Westerlund ECM cointegration test verifies the lack of a long-term equilibrium link between decent work indices and economic development. The findings indicate that although labour market quality is significant, productivity is the primary catalyst for sustained growth in the GCC setting. Policymakers should prioritise productivity-enhancing changes within comprehensive employment and labour market strategies.

Keywords: decent work; sustainable development; employment; economic growth; econometric analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/19/8798/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/19/8798/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:19:p:8798-:d:1762137

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().