Qatar’s Labour Market Strategy (LMS) Phase II will focus on the country’s education system and assess its output vis-à-vis the emerging labour market trends. The LMS second phase will also offer suggestions on how to enhance the education and skills development of young Qataris. The World Bank document submitted to the General Secretariat for Development Planning (GSDP), which would serve as the base for the Phase II activities, underpins that Qatar must strive to create more educated citizens and more skilled workers if the move towards its Knowledge-based economy (K-economy) is to succeed. To do so, Qatar would require an accurate assessment of the outcomes of the education and training system and a better understanding of their causes. “There has historically been a vicious circle between low education outcomes of Qataris, their resulting reluctance to be employed in low-skill or low-wage or poor working condition jobs in the private sector, and the pressure on government to act as an employer of the last resort. The real solution rests on Qataris acquiring the right education, skills and motivation that would enable them to engage in high productivity jobs that also pay high wages”, the document said. Ensuring better outcomes of the education system is probably the biggest challenge Qatar faces in the social and human development area. The way education can make a more immediate impact is by identifying the skills. The second phase of LMS will understand the behaviours and employment expectations of secondary schools students and fresh graduates from the secondary schools and the universities. The document says that the educational attainment of Qataris can improve in terms of higher enrolment rates at successive levels of education, lower dropout rates, and greater learning outcomes. Opening a Forum to discuss the Phase II activities of LMS here yesterday, Sheikh Hamad bin Jabor bin Jassim Al Thani, Director General, General Secretariat for Development Planning said the GSDP is developing the labour strategy by imbibing the spirit of Qatar National Vision 2030. “As of now, there is only limited supply of Qatari workers to meet the needs of the Labour Market, especially skilled workers. Of the one million labour force of Qatar, there are just 62,000 Qataris. Even if all the 62,000 Qataris were highly skilled they could only fill less than a third of higher level positions. The annual addition of Qataris into the country’s labour force is just 3,000-3,500”, he said. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&month=June2009&file=Local_News200906155235.xml

Follow us on our social media channels: @ILQlive @ILQlive @ILoveQtr ILoveQatar