Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the ESCWA Region 2007-2008

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

United Nations, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia Staff, author.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (108 p.) ill

Other Title:

Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the ESCWA Region 2007-2008

Place of Publication:

United Nations

Summary:

This year's Survey builds on the right to development themes adopted in previous issues and focuses on two significant concerns that have long constrained the right to development in the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) region: capital flight and unemployment. Although it is rational from an individual perspective to emigrate or reinvest outside a region plagued by long-term and intertwined economic and security concerns, the interplay of regional and international forces has failed to reshape the regional context into one leading to the retention of financial and human resources. For more than three decades the ESCWA region has been exporting capital; experiencing volatile and, over a 35 year average, zero per cent real GDP per capita growth; has the highest unemployment rate globally, despite recent increases in growth; suffers from rising income inequality; and has a poorly-balanced economic structure that is overwhelmingly based on the export of oil. Yet oil exportation produces few jobs and many people subsist at poverty wage levels in an informal sector that at times accounts for as much as half the labour force. It should also be noted that oil revenues rank extremely highly in terms of volatility in comparison with other export commodities, and any falls in the oil prices can compound the risks of recession.

ISBN:

92-1-055792-1