The formation of human capital--the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lifetimes--is critical for the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Human capital contributes not only to human development and employment but also to the long-term sustainability of a diversified economic growth model that is knowledge based and private sector driven. This approach is critical, given that income from oil and gas will eventually decline and that the nature of work is evolving in response to rapid technological changes, in turn demanding new skill sets. The GCC governments have demonstrated their strong political will for his shift: four of them are among the first countries to join the World Bank’s Human Capital Project—a global effort to improve investments in people as measured by the Human Capital Index. The GCC countries face four main challenges:
- Low levels of basic proficiency among schoolchildren;
- A mismatch between education and the labor market;
- A relatively high rate of adult mortality and morbidity;
- A unique labor market , in which wages in the public sector are more generous than in the private sector and government employment of nationals is virtually guaranteed.
