Assessment of Skill and Technology Indicators

This chapter uses the results of the macro and firm surveys to show the interaction between the deficient educational system and the high incidence of unskilled foreign workers and their implications. The results confirm part of the second hypothesis that in the short and medium term, the Gulf countries are unable to rely on local skills and local technologies and remain heavily dependent on both foreign skills and foreign technologies at the micro level. The findings show that the major reasons for heavy dependence on foreign technologies at the micro level are low levels of both skill and technology due to the deficient educational system and the high incidence of unskilled foreign workers and their implications. The findings show that the deficient educational system – due to low quality of education – and the excessive share of unskilled foreign workers led to low skill levels, poor provision of training, serious skills mismatch, weak linkages, lack of a networks and hindered the transfer of knowledge. These factors interacted with each other and led to poor technology indicators, poor indigenous capability to build the local technology and a heavy dependence on foreign technology. These results prove part of the third hypothesis concerning the low skill and technology indicators at the micro–macro levels: the serious implications of the interaction between the causes and consequences of the deficient educational system and the high use of unskilled foreign workers. The result confirm part of the third hypothesis that the major causes of low level of local technology are low/a lack of R&D activities due to a lack of skills, transfer of knowledge, networks and collaborations between universities and industry/firms. The findings show two surprising contradicting macro–micro views. The first contradicting optimistic – pessimistic micro and macro views regarding the incidence and success of knowledge transfer/external schooling effect implies that, probably, the transfer of knowledge/the external effects of schooling is successful within firms but is unsuccessful within society at large. The second contradicting optimistic-pessimistic macro and micro views concerning the self-reliance on local skills, and the role of both technological upgrading and upskilling in reinforcing it, implies that the self-reliance strategy is probably a preferred government strategy, but is not necessarily one followed by private firms.