Local Talent Supply in the Gulf Cooperation Council ... - Towers Watson

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Local Talent Supply in the Gulf Cooperation Council: Focus on Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E   Too Many, Too Little*   † ‡ Irene Mussio and Zaki Zahran  

* We would like to thank Esha Mendiratta for excellent research assistance. The authors are solely responsible for any errors or omissions. † Towers Watson: Edificio Biotec Plaza, of. 006-008, Zonamérica Business Park, Montevideo, Uruguay, Tel: +5982 5182329 ext. 17, Email: [email protected] ‡ Towers Watson: 71 High Holborn, WC1V 6TP London, United Kingdom Tel: +44 2071 702932, Email: [email protected]

Introduction The success of any corporation depends on its possession of human capital: the ability to plan, attract, manage and retain suitable talent to be part of its workforce. Workforce planning is key to the growth and expansion of any firm. This creates the need for a dynamic estimate of the current and potential future labour pool, as the demographic, economic and social environment changes. We postulate that the main drivers acting on the labour markets in the GCC are as follows: •• Demographics: Increasing life expectancy and gradually decreasing fertility rates have been the trends in the Middle East. Previously, high fertility rates have resulted in a youth ‘bulge’ today that will work its way into the future. The impact of changes in demographic variables on the workforce will depend on the interaction with incentives for labour market participation and migration, for both females and males. •• Nationalization: There has been a policy shift in many GCC countries toward increasingly nationalizing the labour force (that is, increasing the participation and employment of nationals) and to wean these economies away from dependence on migrant labour. The need for these policies is due to the high unemployment rates among nationals, especially among young adults. In addition, there is an urgency to create jobs in the region to absorb the growing labour force numbers. •• Education: Many countries in the region are investing heavily in their education systems, in an attempt to upgrade the attainment of their labour force, and create pools of qualified candidates for their growth and development needs. In particular, countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman and Qatar have put in place a series of strategic programmes to reform their educational systems, revamp structures and bring

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a top-to-bottom approach that covers elementary schooling to tertiary studies. Improved education is usually accompanied by increase labour market participation especially among females. •• Wage pressure and labour costs: Facing a potential shortage of skilled workers, the pressure in the labour market could go in one of two directions: either a rise in wages or a diversification of the benefits package, providing additional benefits with the aim of attracting talent and competing for the most suitable candidates. Which of the strategies dominates will depend on the type of workers that the company is searching for (for example, younger candidates will prefer the money to additional contributions to a pension plan or better health coverage) but will signify additional costs for firms that should be introduced in the overall growth strategy. •• Growth potential: A lack of skilled workers hinders the growth potential of companies in the region and of the region itself, so planning ahead is a valuable tool for firms to exploit the advantages of the region. This includes determining the supply of talent, the need to import talent into the region and the need to set up training programmes and in-house education in case there is no availability of suitable candidates. We project the size of the national labour force as well as the educational attainment of the talent pool up to 2050 in two countries: Saudi Arabia and the UAE. These projections will allow for an estimate of the local talent pool from which companies would be able to recruit; and will enable businesses to better identify the markets they would like to be involved in, the skill mix available and the wage demands to expect.

Results We use a methodology based on population forecasting methods developed by Lutz and Goujon (2001), Lutz, Goujon and Wils (2005), and Willekens

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(2006). We also use educational attainment data to determine the skill distribution of the labour force over the period of projection. We rely on the initial population levels, total fertility rates (TFR), mortality rates, labour force participation rates, and a distribution of educational attainment among those in work. These variables are kept constant in one scenario, but then in a second, dynamic scenario we simultaneously vary three of the variables with time: TFR, labour participation rates and educational attainment. This gives us a more realistic and dynamic view of how the supply of talent will evolve in time.

Projected Working-Age Population & Labour Force The national working-age population comprises adults aged 15−69 from our population projection. 1

In both countries studied the national working-age population grows at a similar rate to the overall population. This means that there is potential for dependency ratios to remain low, indicating greater prospects for higher economic growth and savings.2 In Figure 01 the Saudi working-age population will grow from 11.6 million now to 15 million in 2020, and to 23.96 million in 2050. The Saudi working-age population annual growth rate for this projection is 1.68 percent, which can be disaggregated into

1 Note in our exposition the 65+ cohort is 65−69. We assume that individuals stop working at the age of 70, and so the cohort 70+ is excluded from our exposition. 2 The dependency ratio is defined as the ratio between the population in the 0-14 and 65+ groups over the 15-64 group.

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Figure 01. Saudi Arabia projections for total population, working-age population and labour force 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

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Figure 02. UAE projections for population, working-age population and labour force 2 1.6 1.2 0.8 0.4 0

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a growth rate of 1.74 percent for males and 1.32 percent for females. As for the UAE, the working-age population will grow from 0.58 million to 0.75 million in 2020 and 1.1 million by 2050. However we note that the growth rate for the Emirati working-age population is much higher than the population growth rate, when compared to Saudi Arabia. The growth in the working-age population for the Emirates is 1.82 percent per annum, with the number of males and females rising at a similar rate. The results for the dynamic scenario show that the Saudi working-age population will grow to 15.03 million in 2020, and to 22.90 million in 2050. The annual growth rate for the period up to 2050 is 1.7 percent. In the UAE, the working-age population will grow to 0.75 million in 2020 and 1.16 million by 2050. The annualized growth rate is 1.76 percent. The national labour force in Saudi Arabia will grow from 4.37 million to 5.86 million in 2020 and to 8.51 million by 2050, with an implied growth rate of 1.68 percent per annum. The male labour force annual growth will be at 1.75 percent, whereas the female labour force will grow at 1.32 percent per annum. For the UAE a national labour force which stands at 0.33 million is expected to grow to 0.45 million by 2020, and to about 0.60 million by 2050. The annual growth rate of the national UAE labour force is 1.53 percent, with the male labour force growing at 1.78 percent and the female labour force growing at 0.95 percent. The labour force projection for the dynamic scenario indicate that the number of workers in Saudi Arabia will grow from current levels to 6.46 million in 2020 and to 11.66 million by 2050, with an implied growth rate of 2.49 percent per annum. Whereas in the UAE the increase will grow to 0.46 million by 2020, and to about 0.7 million by 2050. The implied annual growth rate of the national UAE labour force is 1.91 percent. To put these numbers in perspective, the changes highlighted imply that in Saudi Arabia, the number of female workers will more than quadruple by 2050, whereas in the UAE it will more than double over the same period (owing to their current higher participation rates). Overall the labour force in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE will more than double over the span of 40 years.

Labour Force Educational Attainment Figures 03 and 04 present the current and 2050 distribution of educational attainment by gender in the workforce for both Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The current distribution is used for the constant

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scenario, whereas in the dynamic scenario the distribution changes gradually towards the one depicted for 2050. In the constant scenario there are roughly 134,000 people with a university or post graduate degree in the UAE in 2020, and about 1.65 million people with similar qualifications in Saudi Arabia. As for 2050, this projection estimates about 168,000 people with a university or post graduate degree in the UAE, and 2.32 million people with similar qualifications in Saudi Arabia for that year. The growth in population coupled with increased labour participation levels and improved educational attainment results in greater numbers of people with higher qualifications in the labour force. In the dynamic scenario we see that the number of people with university and post-graduate degrees increase from previous estimates. In the UAE the number increases from the current 99,000 people to 160,000 in 2020, and 300,000 by 2050. In Saudi Arabia we see an increase from 1.23 million to 2.2 million in 2020 and 4.96 million by 2050. It is also worth noting that in the UAE there are currently more female than male university graduates in the workforce. However this trend will reverse by 2025. The reason is that as female participation increases, there will be a greater influx of lesser-educated people. The distribution of educational attainment of workers will hence adjust to reflect this higher level of participation. This will be coupled by more incentives for males to continue with their education instead of leaving school early in pursuit of job opportunities.

Implications Our projections show a growing national workforce which increases steadily into the future. A mix of fertility rates above replacement rates and higher life expectancy, combined with the increased participation of nationals in domestic labour markets contribute to this increase. For Saudi Arabia and the UAE this spells an even larger pool of better educated talent available for employment, a story likely of all countries in the GCC. However it also spells challenges, as the imperative for more job openings and career opportunities grows stronger than ever. As most of the GCC countries diversify their economies and make way for a bigger role for the private sector, it will be important for companies operating in these economies to be aware of both the currently available talent pool and the future as they plan for their growth needs. With more global emphasis on local sourcing of talent, and the nationalization agenda in the GCC, it becomes

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Figure 03. Labour Force Projections by Educational Attainment - constant scenario 0

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even more important to conduct workforce planning exercises. Companies would benefit from knowing not only the educational attainment, as presented in this study, but also by discipline and type of skill that will be available. This study can also shed light on the changes that many companies will have to make to accommodate the growing workforce in the region. For example, according to our projections the number of female

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workers in Saudi Arabia is expected to more than quadruple by 2050. This implies that companies will face economic pressures to adjust many of their employee policies and environments to make the workplace friendlier to women while upholding cultural values and norms. Also, as more nationals are employed and companies rely less on expatriate workers, the reward and benefit mix will have to change to reflect

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Figure 04. Labour Force Projections by Educational Attainment - dynamic scenario 0

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this development, providing appropriate incentives for all employees. Phasing in or out some policies and benefits will be inevitable, and the best methods of doing so have to be found.

References Lutz, W. and Goujon, A. (2001), ‘The World’s Changing Human Capital Stock: Multi-State Population Projections by Educational Attainment’, Population and Development Review 27(2), 323–339.

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Lutz, W., Goujon, A. and Wils, A. (2005), ‘Forecasting Human Capital, Using Demographic Multi-State Methods by Age, Sex, and Education to Show the Long-Term Effects of Investments in Education’, Education Policy and Data Center Working Paper(WP-07-03). Willekens, F. (2006), ‘Bridging the Micro-macro Gap in Population Forecasting’, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute.

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