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The UAE's labour market policy of Emiratisation is intended to replace expatriates with local workers by imposing restrictions on the employment of expatriate workers in the public sector and enforcing the private sector to employ nationals in certain types of jobs. This policy has been focused rather narrowly on administrative jobs in the finance and oil sector, and has not addressed the newly emerging ICT sector which is a cornerstone of the government's long-term economic growth strategy. Moreover, strategies such as the Emiratisation policy and investment in the ICT sector are not currently taking place within the context of a proper analysis of labour market needs and problems. The main aim of this study is to make a significant contribution to the knowledge base from which a sustainable national human resource policy in the UAE can be developed, by exploring the current barriers to successful working environments, and by assessing how the Emiratisation policy can be redesigned to focus more on new high-growth sectors, especially the ICT sector. The study also contributes more generally to the field of knowledge about how human capital supply can be improved through policy interventions and technology implementation. Furthermore, by adopting a conceptual framework based on established labour market and social network theories, the study is expected to improve understanding of the UAE economy and potential solutions to current labour market problems, thus offering considerable practical value to UAE decision-makers and policy officials. The study employs a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of the relationship between human capital and ICT with special emphasis on harmonization. This is a mixed-methods study consisting of both quantitative and qualitative primary research data collection, as well as a review of literature. The quantitative research method used a semi-structured online questionnaire survey targeted at managers in the Oil/Gas and Banking/Finance sectors, future job-seekers (students), and other UAE labour market stakeholders and experts. This was followed up by in-depth interviews with ICT expert informants, to provide qualitative data. The results of the quantitative and qualitative components were integrated in a process of triangulation, to draw out their overall significance. The principle finding of this research is that the mismatch between the supply and demand sides of the labour market in terms of skills and expectations is the main barrier to emiratisation. High percentages of Emirati students do not enter the labour market following graduation. UAE nationals have high job and salary expectations, and mainly focus on the public sector. Employers surveyed believe that the types of skills and qualifications they need are in short supply among UAE nationals, especially in relation to managerial and professional jobs. The cultural importance of contacts makes the recruitment process inefficient on both sides. Emiratisation can be expensive for organisations, would be more sustainable if compliance were better enforced by the UAE government, and needs to be better supported by a good education/training system which prepares UAE nationals for the needs of the labour market. The study concludes by advocating a gradual shift towards the knowledge economy as a way of rebalancing the labour market, proposing potential further research on the ICT field within the UAE's private sector, with close attention to indigenization. On the demand side, more detailed nationally representative data might be collected on the skills requirements of private sector jobs in a range of sectors, so that the UAE education system can be better designed to meet the needs of the economy through human resource development.

Recent Scottish Government policy has increasingly emphasised lifelong learning as the means of developing the nation’s skills and employability. Colleges are frequently presented as the key driver of widening access to lifelong learning in Scotland and are expected to provide effective responses to both social and economic problems. This research focuses on the balance struck in government policy in relation to Scotland’s colleges with regard to social and economic objectives and how this policy is mediated in three diverse colleges. Utilising case studies of three colleges in Scotland, this study found that the economic focus of the Scottish Government, coupled with the market values of the college sector following the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992, has resulted in some colleges emphasising economic priorities at the cost of social objectives. College education is presented as the bridge to the labour market and this has resulted in students equating college learning with acquiring the necessary qualifications to obtain employment. In the larger colleges (both the result of recent mergers) social network development is treated as a by-product rather than a central objective and the connections made by students tend to be confined to narrow subject areas. Learning at these colleges is compartmentalised, so that students develop ‘bonding’ rather than ‘bridging’ social capital, which may narrow rather than widen their horizons (Putnam, 2000). Pursuit of funding initiatives and performance indicators at the larger colleges led to tensions amongst staff members over the loss of community focus and, in the case of one college, a significant increase in learners under 16. The smaller college exhibited a clear community focus, allowing for greater levels of social interaction. It is suggested that colleges need to develop further their role as generators of social, as well as human, capital.

This thesis uses personnel records from a large UK based financial sector employer to aid investigation into questions relating to both wage determination and employee turnover.  The thesis begins by turning to the origins of the human capital earnings function (Mincer, 1974).  The emphasis of the discussion is that other specifications can also accommodate estimates that are consistent with the basic components of Mincer’s analysis.  Motivated by these theoretical considerations as well as existing empirical evidence, I model the earnings function as a semi-parametric partial linear model.  The estimation results reveal that conventional parametric specifications result in biased estimates of the growth in wages with within-firm experience.  In addition, conventional specifications do not adequately serve as control variables when the effects of other covariates on wages are of interest. Interpreting the relationship between tenure and wages forms the focus of the remainder of the thesis.  Several theoretical models predict a causal relationship between these variables and estimates of the causal effect of tenure on wages have ranged from negligible to substantial (Garen, 1988).  I begin the investigation by assessing the employee exit decision.  Utilising information on the exact states reason for each employee’s departure and available data on supervisor performance ratings, I also form and estimate models of employment duration.  Estimation results are consistent with the job matching model presented by Jovanovic (1979).  Results also show augmenting hazard models to incorporate reasons for departure is important for understanding gender differences in turnover.  Utilising the econometric methods developed by Altonji and Shakotko (1987) and Topel (1991), as well as evidence from the turnover investigation, I find notable effects of tenure on wages.  Interestingly, both estimators deliver similar estimates and there are small gender differences in wage – tenure profile.  Arguments are presented in order to explain these findings.

Thesis discusses the theory of human capital and the strong interdependence between economic growth and human investments. The essence of human capital concept lies in the fact that investments in education and healthcare create the human capital in the same way as expenses on the equipment and materials create physical capital. The rate of return of human investments, in the long run, is much higher than of investments into physical capital. The theory of human capital is applied in the comparative analysis of Federal Subjects of the Russian Federation with the purpose to determine interrelation between the level of education and economic development of the country with the focus on the level of education, differences in income level and vocational and professional structure of the labor.

A country that is unable to develop the skills and knowledge of its people and to utilise them effectively in the national economy is unable to develop. No country can sustain economic development and international competitiveness if its human resources are not developed to contribute significantly to the economy. Human capital refers to the knowledge and skills that people in the work force acquire through education, on-the-job training and self-teaching. According to human capital theories, education and training enhance a person’s stock of human capital, increasing productive potential and leading to higher earnings. South Africa has a shortage of skilled workers and an oversupply of unskilled workers that resulted from bottlenecks in the labour market generated by apartheid. People play a crucial role in any company’s ability to produce products and services that will improve a country’s productivity and economic growth. The role of human capital and resources for development is of paramount importance in a country like South Africa, as its human resources are underdeveloped and the potential of people are not realised or taken into account. Experts agree that to maintain a relative standard of living, countries must upgrade the education and skill levels of the labour force. Labour plays an essential role in the economic growth of the country and it is important to develop manpower efficiently to be able to supply the necessary skills required by a growing economy. The SADC region should continuously improve its human capital to enhance high levels of productivity and, by employing modern technology, the standard of living will be harnessed. During 2001, 10,2 percent of the manufacturing labour force was classified as highly skilled. It is important for the manufacturing sector to keep up with technological advancement in order to compete globally. To increase exports, labour productivity, employment level and wages, the manufacturing sector should continuously train, retrain and educate its labour force. Without technological changes, growth would come to a standstill and education and training should therefore continue to meet these technological changes. The South African manufacturing sector is characterised by structural changes that are shifting from labour intensive, low technology and resource-based industries, to medium and high technology and sales-based industries. The manufacturing, finance and communications sectors have shifted from semi-skilled to highly skilled industries. In the secondary sector, skills that are in demand include an understanding of global markets and the regulations governing access to these markets. There should be better linkages with, and co-operation between education and training. Training is part of the world of work. Training should remain the responsibility of employers, the Departments of Labour and Education, training providers and government and should be at the heart of the new institutional regime for skills development. Therefore, it necessitates individual employers to improve the co-ordination of training and increases their investments in skills formation. Improving human capital should be regarded as a benefit with positive externalities. SETA’s are required to respond to the skills backlog and the enterprise training needs of the various stakeholders by overseeing designated skills training programmes and development initiatives. The guidelines of the Skills Development Act and the Skills Development Levy Act govern such requirements set for the SETA’s. / Prof. G. Van Zyl

The Swedish population is rapidly increasing in educational level in the past two decades and educational level has long been a topic of interest for labor productivity. This increase in educational level brings up an interesting discussion of whether the remoteness of a university helps create productivity and if so by how much. This is a study that will try and explain the impact on regional productivity by having a university closer, using the distance to the closest university of each municipality in Sweden, and depending on what quality this university possess. Using simple OLS regressions results have shown some reasons for increased productivity, either positive or negative, while distance showed to not matter for regional productivity at all. This field is somewhat untouched, and with further research and by including other geographical economic theories, it could become an interesting study.

Within the next decade India is expected to surpass China as the world's most populous country due to still higher fertility and a younger population. Around 2025 each country will be home to around 1.5 billion people. India is demographically very heterogeneous with some rural illiterate populations still having more than four children on average while educated urban women have fewer than 1.5 children and with great differences between states. We show that the population outlook greatly depends on the degree to which this heterogeneity is explicitly incorporated into the population projection model used. The conventional projection model, considering only the age and sex structures of the population at the national level, results in a lower projected population than the same model applied at the level of states because over time the high-fertility states gain more weight, thus applying the higher rates to more people. The opposite outcome results from an explicit consideration of education differentials because over time the proportion of more educated women with lower fertility increases, thus leading to lower predicted growth than in the conventional model. To comprehensively address this issue, we develop a five-dimensional model of India's population by state, rural/urban place of residence, age, sex, and level of education and show the impacts of different degrees of aggregation. We also provide human capital scenarios for all Indian states that suggest that India will rapidly catch up with other more developed countries in Asia if the recent pace of education expansion is maintained.

Thesis (M.M. (Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2014. / Could not copy Abstract