The Challenges of Globalization And Human Resources Development In The Arab World: Myth And Reality

Ismail Sirageldin and Rana Al-Khaled

No 9712, Working Papers from Economic Research Forum

Abstract: Recent advances in information technology made capital and technology rather than labor the main mobile factors of production, creating additional challenges to the development and utilization of human resources. An examination of the quality of basic education and skill composition of Arab labor indicates a lack of international competitiveness. Creating sustainable local demand for labor, a necessary condition for effective global competitiveness, is conditional on progress in some basic developmental transformations in the region. The study focuses on two: agricultural and oil transformations. The combination of high labor growth rates and delayed improvement in average labor quality severely constrains the time path of these transformations. A large segment of the Arab labor population group may lose in the short or medium term. This unfavorable home environment is being confounded by external forces that impose short-term remedial policies. The challenge is how to assure long-term gains.

Date: 1997-14-08, Revised 1997
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Published by The Economic Research Forum (ERF)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:erg:wpaper:9712

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