Head of Arab Labor Organization warns of growing layoff rates in Gulf states, says staggering unemployment projections may prove perilous to some of region's governments
Doron Peskin
Published:  04.10.09, 08:16 / Ynet

The global financial crisis has had a serious effect on job demands in the Arab world, as experts define the bleak employment situation in many Mideast nations as a "ticking time bomb" for some of the region's regimes.
 
Future projections as to the job market's prospects, as noted in an Arab Labor Organization conference held in Jordan this week, were dismal. Ahmed Luqman, director general of the group, predicted that 2009 and 2010 may see as many as 3.6 million to 5 million Arabs become unemployed.
 
According to Luqman, unemployment rates in the Arab world may reach 17% by the end of 2010 – spanning 22 million people.
 
Data presented at the Amman conference indicated that job demands in the Arab world are likely to drop by 14% in 2009, especially in the business and banking sectors.
 
The Arab world in general and Persian Gulf states in particular, also employ 16 million foreign workers, mostly form Asia. According to recent reports, a large percentage of foreign workers have already lost their jobs.
 
Part of the financial constraints affecting Arab nations – particularly to poorer ones, the likes of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Morocco – is the fact that foreign currency transfers, much of which it due to money wires by Arab workers stationed abroad – have dropped.
 
In 2008, foreign currency transfers came to 24 billion dollars, most of which were funneled towards the development of local markets and real estate projects. The noted drop in income – and the one still expected – is likely to prove detrimental to the Arab world's growth rates in the near future.
 
Doron Peskin is head of research for Info-Prod Research (Middle East) Ltd .

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