Research Problem, Objectives, and Importance
The issue of unemployment is a growing concern in the Arab Gulf states, which comprise numerous countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain. The article argues that this has been evidenced by the high rates of unemployment amongst individuals aged 15-29 years across in those countries (Rutledge, Al Shamsi, Bassioni, & Al Sheikh, 2011). The article focuses on the high rates of unemployment in Arab Gulf states. The article argues that many Arabs are unemployed and can no longer be absorbed into the most coveted sectors including oil and energy and the least bureaucratic sections. Notably, many non-nationals in various GCC countries and UAE have been recruited in such sectors due to their high knowledge levels and effective skills. The article argues that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman and the United Arab Emirates have, therefore, been forced to come up with policies that encompass direct labor market intervention, whereby the nationals are reserved for many job positions in the mentioned sectors and that they are offered free opportunities to join market-oriented vocational training programs to help improve their knowledge and skills. However, in the process of ensuring that many nationals are absorbed into the coveted sectors and effectively trained, the government has not made efforts to address the increasing rates of unemployment amongst Arab women. The article, therefore, seeks to research how high rates of unemployment be related to women’s educational attainment compared to that of their male counterparts. The article also seeks to explore the degree to which the national labor policies influenced the issue of high rates of unemployment amongst Arab women and to what degree the policies can be considered to be aware of challenges faced by women in the country.
The article seeks to achieve numerous objectives and plays an important role in addressing issues faced by Arab women in the labor market. The article aims at ensuring that Arab women are given equal opportunities to join market-oriented vocational training programs to improve their knowledge and skills and that they are offered fair opportunities to secure various jobs in the most coveted national sectors and the least bureaucratic sections (Rutledge et al., 2011). The importance of the article is that it seeks to achieve the mentioned objectives by ensuring that the national labor policies take into consideration the challenges faced by Arab women in entering the country’s labor market.
Main Terms of Variables Used
The main terms used in the article include the high rates of unemployment amongst Arab women, their educational attainment, and the degree to which the national labor policies address the labor issues faced by women within the Gulf Arab states. The high rates of unemployment imply that Arab women comprise the largest portion of the population aged between 15-29 years who have not been absorbed into the most lucrative business sectors across the world (Rutledge et al., 2011). The article argues that one of the reasons that might have contributed to the high rates of unemployment is their low rate of educational attainment compared with their male counterparts. Another aspect that the article uses is the degree to which the national labor policies address the issues faced by Arab women in the country’s labor market. The aspect seeks to explain whether the labor issues faced by Arab women have been considered in the formulation and implementation of the national labor policies.
Research Hypotheses
The article hypothesizes that high unemployment rates amongst Saudi Arabian women are due to the low educational attainment rates. This implies that the article assumes that Arab women may have not been absorbed into GCC’S labor market, particularly in the lucrative sectors because of their ineffective knowledge and skills compared to men. The article also hypothesizes that the high unemployment rates amongst Arab women are because the federal governments have not considered integrating their issues in the national labor policies. This implies that the GCC governments are not putting effort towards addressing the increasing rates of unemployment amongst women in various countries.
Research Methodology
The article adopted a qualitative approach that was based on the complexity and interconnectedness among various factors including socio-cultural aspects, structural issues, and the relative national and non-national human capital levels. The study utilized data on regional labor markets and educational attainment rates in the Arab Gulf states that had been previously documented. The article gathered information related to the rate of unemployment and educational attainment rates amongst women from the previously documented data. The article gathered data before conducting interviews, which sought to help the researchers to establish questions they would pose to the study’s participants. The study recruited 18 participants (policymakers) who were all engaged in semi-structured interviews (Rutledge et al., 2011). The individuals who were recruited were individuals who held senior positions in the Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates governments, and who had insight into the research problem. The article is biased because it only focuses on two GCC countries rather than all of the six countries.
Data Analysis
The study did not employ any data analysis techniques; thus, it is not clear how it came up with its findings. The study’s findings state that labor markets and labor nationalization implementation bodies in the Arab Gulf are influenced by the region’s social and cultural norms. The study’s findings state that the high rates of unemployment amongst Saudi Arabian women are influenced by the ineffective education system that does not promote education amongst women. The study’s findings also state that the country is putting more effort to ensure that the labor issues Saudi Women face are integrated into the national labor policies.
Conclusion
The article argues that the Saudi Arabian government is well aware that human capital is one of the most vital assets to any country’s economy, and the lack of this resource may contribute to a nation’s slow growth. The article contends that the Saudi Arabian government must empower women by establishing market-orientated vocational programs to help improve their knowledge and skills, as well as setting up policies that promote the need for all organizations across public and private sectors to establish favorable mixed-gender work environments. The article argues that, by Saudi Arabia adopting proactive nationalization strategies, organizations within the private sector will be more likely to retain and secure lucrative government contracts, and in turn, many Saudi Arabian women will likely get jobs in this particular sector. The article recommends that the Saudi Arabian government should effectively address labor issues facing women in the country by ensuring that such aspects are integrated into the national labor policies. The study had numerous limitations. One of the limitations is that the study was conducted in only two of the Arab Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Although these countries have the largest economies and are the most populous, the data collected cannot be generalized to the entire Arab Gulf countries. Another limitation that the article outlines is that it was challenging for the authors to assess the impact of labor nationalization policies on female labor participation.
Reference
Rutledge, E., Al Shamsi, F., Bassioni, Y., & Al Sheikh, H. (2011). Women, labor market nationalization policies and human resource development in the Arab Gulf states. Human Resource Development International, 14(2), 183-198. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2011.558314