MORE than two-thirds of young national Arabs in the Gulf states still hope to land jobs with government, despite initiatives to encourage them to seek out careers in the private sector.
This new finding from the eighth annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey was unveiled by Sunil John, the CEO of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, at a presentation to the third Global Islamic Economy Summit in Dubai.
Across the whole Arab world, half (50 percent) of young people said they would prefer a government job to private sector work. However, this preference rises to 70 percent across the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.
When asked what would entice them to work in the private sector, more than half of all young Arabs surveyed cited higher wages (51 percent), followed by better healthcare and other benefits (35 percent), more paid holidays (29 percent) and shorter working hours (27 percent).
In the GCC, where governments have traditionally employed the majority of the national workforce, only 15 percent of young people said they would prefer to work in the private sector, while another 14 percent had no preference and 1 percent didn’t know.
“Persuading young people to take on roles in the private sector is essential to creating a strong, sustainable economy,” said Sunil John.
“These findings show that despite ongoing efforts to make the private sector more appealing to young Gulf Arabs, the message isn’t getting through as fast as governments – or the private sector – would like.
“New initiatives and policies, such as Saudi’s Vision 2030, the removal of subsidies on fuel and introduction of VAT across the Gulf, show that governments are serious about new economic realities,” he added. However, it seems balancing expectations about public sector work with the realities of private sector employment for those young nationals entering the workforce will require more effort.”
Elsewhere in the Arab World, views towards public sector employment differ markedly. In the Levant, young people are almost evenly split between preference for the public and private sectors (28 percent and 30 percent receptively), while 37 percent had no preference and 4 percent didn’t know.
In North Africa, 47 percent of young nationals would opt for the public sector, 26 percent for private, 20 percent had no preference and 8 percent didn’t know.
In another Survey finding unveiled at his presentation, John revealed that the majority of young Arabs – 58 percent – want to further their education, be it university, vocational training or post-graduate degree. In North Africa, 73 percent intend to further their education, against 61 percent in the GCC and just 41 percent in the Levant.
Of those who aren’t seeking further education, 40 percent of young people in the Levant say they are put off by the high cost of further education; in North Africa 19 percent are concerned by teaching standards; while 62 percent of young Gulf Arabs are keen to get on with their careers.
Now in its eighth year, the ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey has established itself as a key referral source for businesses and policymakers in the region and across the world.
For this year’s survey, international polling firm Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) conducted 3,500 face-to-face interviews with exclusively Arab national men and women aged 18-24 in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain; Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Yemen. The interviews were conducted from January 11 to February 22, 2016.
In-depth results from the 8th Annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey, including survey highlights and a white paper in Arabic and English, are available on www.arabyouthsurvey.com
Established in 2000, ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller is the region’s leading public relations consultancy, with 11 wholly-owned offices and 10 affiliates across the Middle East and North Africa.
