17 January 2011
"The Arab world is not able to benefit properly from its skilled human resources and we have witnessed a high rate of youth emigration in the past few years", he said during a regional forum on economic and social rights held in Beirut.
Corm said that an increasing number of universities graduates in the Arab world were seeking jobs outside their own countries and this was due to the bad economic situation and absence of innovation and productivity in these nations.
According to the World Bank Economic Report of the Arab World, Arab states need to generate 100 million jobs during the next 15 - 20 years to meet the needs of young people entering the job market.
For example, the most populous states in the Arab world, like Egypt with 81 million people, need to create at least one million new jobs for the more 750,000 young people entering the employment market each year.
Moreover, unemployment is affecting over 20 million people in the Arab world. This situation has also increased poverty rates, which are estimated to affect some 50 percent of the total population in the Arab world.
Corm said that among the reasons behind the high unemployment rate was that around 60 million females in the Arab world were illiterate. "The economic situation in the Arab world is unfortunately very regressive due to the high poverty rate in rural areas where the income per capita does not exceed $300 per year", he added.
He noted that one of the reasons behind such a poor economic situation was the absence of innovation and production of new services and products, in addition to the concentration of wealth in a small group of businessmen. Corm argued that one of the most common problems in Arab countries was the focus of Arab policies on encouraging micro finance institutions without formulating a strategy to create cooperation between the traditional impoverished industries and modern sectors.
The wide gap that exists between these sectors in terms of productivity and revenues constitutes a great obstacle to development and a main reason behind youth emigration, Corm explained.
He provided the audience with some statistics of the financial losses caused by emigration of skilled young people. "Around 70,000 Arab university graduates emigrate on a yearly basis looking for job opportunities, and 54 percent of Arab students who study abroad do not return to their countries", he indicated, adding that the number of physicians and architects emigrating from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco an Algeria reaches 100,000 yearly and a large percentage do not return to their homeland.
Corm noted that some studies estimated the losses caused by the emigration of 450,000 highly skilled people at $200 billion a year.
"The Arab world is not able to benefit properly from its skilled human resources and we have witnessed a high rate of youth emigration in the past few years", he said during a regional forum on economic and social rights held in Beirut.
Corm said that an increasing number of universities graduates in the Arab world were seeking jobs outside their own countries and this was due to the bad economic situation and absence of innovation and productivity in these nations.
According to the World Bank Economic Report of the Arab World, Arab states need to generate 100 million jobs during the next 15 - 20 years to meet the needs of young people entering the job market.
For example, the most populous states in the Arab world, like Egypt with 81 million people, need to create at least one million new jobs for the more 750,000 young people entering the employment market each year.
Moreover, unemployment is affecting over 20 million people in the Arab world. This situation has also increased poverty rates, which are estimated to affect some 50 percent of the total population in the Arab world.
Corm said that among the reasons behind the high unemployment rate was that around 60 million females in the Arab world were illiterate. "The economic situation in the Arab world is unfortunately very regressive due to the high poverty rate in rural areas where the income per capita does not exceed $300 per year", he added.
He noted that one of the reasons behind such a poor economic situation was the absence of innovation and production of new services and products, in addition to the concentration of wealth in a small group of businessmen. Corm argued that one of the most common problems in Arab countries was the focus of Arab policies on encouraging micro finance institutions without formulating a strategy to create cooperation between the traditional impoverished industries and modern sectors.
The wide gap that exists between these sectors in terms of productivity and revenues constitutes a great obstacle to development and a main reason behind youth emigration, Corm explained.
He provided the audience with some statistics of the financial losses caused by emigration of skilled young people. "Around 70,000 Arab university graduates emigrate on a yearly basis looking for job opportunities, and 54 percent of Arab students who study abroad do not return to their countries", he indicated, adding that the number of physicians and architects emigrating from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco an Algeria reaches 100,000 yearly and a large percentage do not return to their homeland.
Corm noted that some studies estimated the losses caused by the emigration of 450,000 highly skilled people at $200 billion a year.
© Monday Morning 2011
