Two thirds of youth in Arab world would prefer government sector jobs

Muscat: Two out of three young individuals in the Arab world would prefer working in the public sector according to a survey.
The eighth annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth survey unveiled the findings at the Global Islamic Economy Summit in Dubai, which contains economic and political view of the Arab Youth.
In the GCC region, the rate of interest in employment in the government sector rose to a massive 70%. The percentage of youth who would like to see themselves as private sector workforce was only 15% with another 14% having no preference. 1% of the sample population answered “don’t know”.
Unveiling the findings, Sunil John, CEO of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller emphasized on the importance of private sector in driving the economy. “Persuading young people to take on roles in the private sector is essential to creating a strong, sustainable economy,” he said.
International polling firm Penn Schoen Berland conducted 3,500 face to face interviews for this year. The sample was Arab Nationals aged 18-24, split evenly in male to female ratio. The countries included the six GCC countries and other Arab countries including Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Lbya, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, Yemen and Algeria.
For Oman, individuals aged 18-24 were surveyed in equal number from Muscat and Batinah region.