A while back I wrote about a colleague - Dr. Ingo Forstenlechner - doing research on how to get more Emiratis in the private workforce. He was quoted in the article:
"One the one hand, this is good for Emiratis in the public sector. For the private sector this will be a catastrophe."
Over the past three decades there has been a population explosion. While it may have been possible to employ all that want jobs by the government a few years ago it is not possible now and the problem will only get worse as the 20-30 age bracket grows and grows.
Ingo makes another great point:
"It sends yet another signal that this was not due to performance or merit. Pay increases based on need or welfare motives should be called what they are, otherwise they distort the perceptions of people. Otherwise, fresh graduates see what others are making and they think this is the value of their work and they will never go into the private sector."
In talking with my students many of them believe a college graduate is automatically worth $80,000/year minimum. When I try to explain that employers pay on the basis of the worker's value to the company my students look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language.
Which, I guess, I am.
Don't worry steve all my Leadership Students think they will graduate from UI and get 60-75,000 a year to start... hard to explain that i have an MBA with over 6 years experience and don't make anywhere near that!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays,
Monica
Yes, US students have an inflated sense of self worth! In the US, however, they learn the cold reality very quickly after graduating and lower their expectations.
ReplyDeleteHere many sit in the large villas with their large families for weeks, months, YEARS waiting for the government job to come. There are no good figures of the unemployment rate, but it is believed to be very high if all those waiting for a government job were counted.