Who does best for skills and training in MENA?

Only three Middle Eastern nations – Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – make it into the top half of the Human Capital Index – the World Economic Forum’s measure of how effectively 124 economies train their people and use their skills.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, whose GDP per head is five-fold higher, perform no better than Morocco and Egypt, highlighting that leveraging human capital requires more than economic activity.

Unemployment within the 15–24 age group is 42% in Egypt and 31% in Tunisia, while low numbers of female workers means a prime working age participation rate below 80% in eight of the 12 countries surveyed.

Israel scores well on tertiary education for the 25–54 age group and a high-skilled employment share of 49.7% (4th globally.) However, unemployment for this group is relatively high at 11%.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have strong primary schools (ranking 13th and 9th globally) and overall education systems (9th and 3rd) but also some of the world’s lowest tertiary and vocational enrolment rates for the 15–24 age group.

Jordan comes 37th in the world for the proportion of workers in high-skilled employment but has an unemployment rate of 29% for those with a tertiary education.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia are the most populous economies surveyed. Egypt ranks higher on the 55–64 and 65+ age groups but Saudi Arabia’s education system is perceived as much better (Egypt comes second to last in the world for primary education.)

Employment and training issues will be discussed at the World Economic Forum’s Middle East and North Africa regional meeting in Jordan from May 21-23.

Author: Mark Jones is Commissioning Editor for the World Economic Forum

Image: Students raise their hands in class on the first day of their new school year at a government school in Giza, south of Cairo September 22, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany