The formation of human capital--the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lifetimes--is critical for the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Human capital contributes not only to human development and employment but also to the long-term sustainability of a diversified economic growth model that is knowledge based and private sector driven. This approach is critical, given that income from oil and gas will eventually decline and that the nature of work is evolving in response to rapid technological changes, in turn demanding new skill sets. The GCC governments have demonstrated their strong political will for this shift: four of them are among the first countries to join the World Bank’s Human Capital Project—a global effort to improve investments in people as measured by the Human Capital Index. The GCC countries face four main challenges: • Low levels of basic proficiency among schoolchildren • A mismatch between education and the labor market • A relatively high rate of adult mortality and morbidity • A unique labor market , in which wages in the public sector are more generous than in the private sector and government employment of nationals is virtually guaranteed To address these challenges, this report outlines four strategies in a“whole-of-government†? approach: • Investing in high-quality early childhood development • Preparing healthier, better educated, and skilled youth for the future • Enabling greater adult labor force participation • Creating an enabling environment for human capital formation These strategies are based on best practices in other countries and feature some of the GCC countries’ plans, including their national “Visions,†? to take their economies and societies further into the twenty-first century. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the GCC countries face additional challenges that may worsen some preexisting vulnerabilities and erode human capital. In response, the GCC governments have taken multiple measures to protect their populations’ health and their economies. Any country’s decision to reopen its economy needs to closely consider public health consequences to avoid a resurgence of infections and any further erosion of its human capital. The COVID-19 crisis underscores that the need to accelerate and improve investment in human capital has never been greater. Once the GCC countries return to a “new normal,†? they will be in a position to achieve diversified and sustainable growth by adopting, and then tailoring, the strategies presented in this report.

The six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have achieved substantial development progress in recent decades, as is evidenced by their high rankings within the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index (HDI). Despite these achievements, however, the process of development in the GCC states still faces numerous challenges, the most significant of which relate to national human resources. Indeed, it is fair to say that the success of ongoing development efforts in the GCC states will largely be decided by how they manage, employ and develop their human capital. This book comprises a valuable collection of the papers presented at the ECSSR 14th Annual Conference, “Human Resources and Development in the Arabian Gulf,” held in Abu Dhabi on February 2–4, 2009. The papers contained herein represent a contemporary examination of: the different development strategies available to the GCC states; the challenges facing human resource development in the GCC countries; the problems facing GCC labor markets; opportunities and potential for investment in human capital; the many obstacles to sustainable development in the Gulf; and other relevant topics.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries own 30 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and largely depend on oil for their income. Yet the GCC faces serious challenges. The global demand for oil is expected to continue declining, and the average long-run oil price could become lower than its historical average in the future. This book is a research-based, structural macroeconomic analysis, providing evidence-based and future-facing policy recommendations for GCC governments. First, it analyzes historical data to explain the macroeconomic performance and economic policies of the GCC countries from 1970 to 2019. Then it presents ten-year dynamic stochastic projections from 2020 to 2030. The book examines debt sustainability and optimal fiscal policies – i.e., government spending and taxation. It also analyses structural issues, such as savings and productivity, from an institutional perspective, taking into account education, the labor market, and pension funds, as well as other factors that have a close effect on economic performance. The book is comprehensive and thorough, it relies on extensive econometric analyses, including rigorous time series analysis. The author uses both calibration of theoretical models and estimation, facilitating projections for the next decade of key economic variables under different policy scenarios. The book also assesses what the future of the GCC economies will look like if climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic continue to adversely affect oil supply and demand and the price of oil, given their current policies and institutions. As well as scholars and researchers of economics and finance, the book will engage policymakers in central banks, treasury departments, planning councils, research institutes, and think tanks.

This book offers an understanding of the current state of public management in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, highlighting the region's institutional and human capital constraints. Drawing on case studies from GCC states and beyond, the book provides a policy-oriented analysis of these challenges and a set of recommendations on how to address them. Public Management Reform in the Gulf Cooperation Council and Beyond utilizes several theoretical frameworks to explore three themes: first, how the quality of government and efficiency of its bureaucratic machinery can offer a business-friendly environment for the private sector; second, how public-private partnerships can foster stronger collaboration and exchange of knowledge and expertise between the public and private sectors; and finally, how the existing human capital constraints may be addressed through the effective implementation of talent management, knowledge management, and training programs. A comparative approach is taken throughout the book, contrasting the performance of GCC states with other Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries or the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries in key governance, public sector performance, and business competitiveness indicators to identify what the GCC states need to do to enhance the quality of government and the capacity to deliver services more efficiently. This book will appeal to academics, practitioners, policymakers and private sector consultants, as well as those interested more broadly in the Middle East and the Gulf region.

Extensive efforts to develop human capital are under way in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere in the Gulf, and they are increasingly setting expectations for how people ought to behave socially and economically that are in tension with how they are expected to behave politically. The tensions created by governments’ conflicting aims can produce frustration, a sense of entitlement, or apathy among young people entering the labor force, each of which poses different potential political challenges for governments. Navigating this tension—or finding ways to create space for genuine innovation and risk taking within that constrained political context—will be among the most important strategic challenges for the region’s leaders and people in the next 10 years.

This book delves into the economic development of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Since the 1960s, the GCC states have harnessed their potential to exploit the wealth accrued from the oil boom to build their infrastructure and grow their economies. However, the high level of dependency on oil as the primary source feeding their output made their economies volatile and vulnerable to fluctuations in the global oil prices. Moreover, the plunge in oil prices and the threat of depletion of this natural resource pose serious challenges to the GCC countries. Consequently, the GCC governments have realized the importance of diversifying their economies following the need to move away from reliance on hydrocarbon. This book contributes to the theoretical literature by enriching the debate on the transition of the GCC countries from rentier states to diversified economies. It helps students and scholars understand this transformation with an expansive comprehension of the contemporary challenges facing the region, as well as outlining prospects for the future.

Schools of Education are emerging academic units in higher educational institutions in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations. Most of these teacher training programs are in their infancy stages. Modern day educational discourse across teacher training programs globally, including the Middle East and in the GCC, have predominantly focused on student-centered approaches to teaching and learning. This approach to teacher training is infused with critical scholarship and marks a shift away from positivist approaches to educational scholarship. Integrating critical scholarship in GCC teacher training programs brings about a number of challenges, as this approach to education is a departure from traditional cultural and social norms for schooling in the region. This multidisciplinary volume highlights some of the challenges and complexities that inevitably arise from this paradox. Professors, researchers, and specialists working in the GCC have contributed to this volume with the intent of empowering educators with authentic and contextualized research and insights to advance collective understanding of the complexities and challenges of teacher education and training in the GCC. Ultimately, this work will serve as a practical tool and resource that can be employed by schools of education to provide authentic insights, strategies, and research to further develop teacher training in the GCC and globally.