Middle Eastern and North African countries need to reform their civil services and promote women in the labour market, said an IMF official.
"Size and productivity of the public sector need to improve," Nemat Shafik, the deputy managing director of the IMF, said yesterday. "Don't increase the wages too much in the public sector and encourage the private sector to create jobs."
Speaking on the sidelines of the fifth annual Women in Leadership Forum Middle East and Africa in Dubai, Ms Shafik talked about the challenges facing women in Mena and ways regional economies can help women achieve their economic potential.
In Gulf countries, including the Emirates, 80 per cent of women are employed in the public sector.
"It is unsustainable at the current levels," Ms Shafik said referring to regional public sector's employment capacity.
She also recommended flexibility in employment regulations to encourage the private sector to create jobs. High severance payments and the inability to let go of people discourage private firms from recruiting more people, according to Ms Shafik.
The public or government sector is still the preferred employer for women and men in Mena, with wages almost 30 per cent higher than in the private sector and with flexible work hours for women, according to Ms Shafik. Globally, private sector wages are 20 per cent higher than in the public sector, she said.
Employment rates in the public sector, however, vary widely among countries in the region. In Morocco 10 per cent of the workforce is employed in the public sector compared with 80 per cent in the Gulf, according to the World Bank.
About 3.8 million people, including Emiratis and expats, are employed in 285,000 firms in the private sector in the UAE, the Ministry of Labour said in March. Data for the number of people working in the public sector were not available.
Quality of graduates and access to lending need to improve to encourage the private sector to create more jobs and take the pressure off the public sector, Ms Shafik said.
"Quality is still a problem," she added. "Many graduates do not have the right skills for the business sector."
"Only 10 per cent of firms in Mena have access to banks, among the lowest in the world," she said.
Creation of jobs in the private sector is necessary as Mena countries face slower annual GDP growth this year and next.
This year the IMF lowered the expected rate of the economic growth of oil-exporting countries, which includes the UAE, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Iran, to 3.2 per cent from 5.7 per cent in 2012. It is projected at 3.7 per cent for next year.
For Gulf countries, the annual GDP growth is projected at 4 per cent this year, down from 6 per cent last year. It is projected to stagnate at 4 per cent next year.
This is barely enough to keep creating jobs at the rate of demand growth, the IMF official said.
When it comes to gains in educational levels among women, Mena and particularly the Gulf have done well, growing the fastest in the world, Ms Shafik said.
As a result gender imbalance is felt the most among youths with unemployment rates among women as high as 40 per cent in many countries in the region.
"Mena countries have wisely invested in women's education but they are not yet fully tapping into their potential to contribute to growth and prosperity," Manuela Ferro, the director for poverty reduction and economic management in Mena at the World Bank, said in March.
ssahoo@thenational.ae
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The%20specs
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Top New Zealand cop on policing the virtual world
New Zealand police began closer scrutiny of social media and online communities after the attacks on two mosques in March, the country's top officer said.
The killing of 51 people in Christchurch and wounding of more than 40 others shocked the world. Brenton Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, was accused of the killings. His trial is ongoing and he denies the charges.
Mike Bush, commissioner of New Zealand Police, said officers looked closely at how they monitored social media in the wake of the tragedy to see if lessons could be learned.
“We decided that it was fit for purpose but we need to deepen it in terms of community relationships, extending them not only with the traditional community but the virtual one as well," he told The National.
"We want to get ahead of attacks like we suffered in New Zealand so we have to challenge ourselves to be better."
The%20Iron%20Claw
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Naga
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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