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Executive SummaryBuilding up humancapabilities is a coreoperational step toachieve humandevelopment.Available indicatorsshow that theemployment andunderemploymentlevels have beendeclining in line withthe implementation ofERSAP policies.expanding basic connectivity to peopleeverywhere, creating more affordable accessto information tools, and creating newopportunities for SMEs through e-commerceand e-business. The major projects of thenational program include infrastructure(telephone mainlines, mobile lines, etc),human resource development and theestablishment of mass access centers(MAC).Globalization and TechnologyUnder globalization the supply oftechnology is subject to an imperfect marketranging from monopolistic competition tothe oligopoly and monopoly practiced byhuge actors at the international level. Onemight therefore argue that the free transferof technology, or of innovation in particular,is far from being the reality. In recent yearseconomic, technological and legal factorshave contributed to restricting technologicalmobility at the international level.These restrictive factors have been investigated,using the field of pharmaceuticalmanufacturing and trading as a case study.Developing a pharmaceutical product goesthrough research and development (R&D),manufacturing and post - manufacturingsupervision, and the introduction of a newmedicine takes about ten years and requiresan expenditure ranging from US$ 40 millionto US$ 250 million.The pharmaceutical market structure ischaracterized by the dominance of a fewenormous firms over the whole process ofmedicine manufacturing. The oligopolisticmarket increases the ability of firms toinfluence the pricing system, endangeringconsumer choice and welfare, and resultingin distorted prices that are inefficient inallocating resources or distributing incomes.The increasing power of large firms allowsthem to exploit the fruits of small firms’efforts in R&D, integrate them into theirmacro invention circuit, and thereby get thelarger share in the rent of technologicalscarcity. Pharmaceutical industry actors areable to influence the organs of state throughintervention in public policies.The rules of the Trade Related IntellectualProperties Agreement (TRIPS) mightnegatively affect the Egyptianpharmaceutical industry and the health ofthe poor through higher medicine prices. Inorder for Egypt to face the threats ofglobalization to this industry it mustformulate a national program to include adisease prevention policy, a treatmentpolicy which targets particularly vulnerablesocial groups (the poor and women withdifficult social conditions), and a medicinepolicy. The latter should aim at encouragingR&D, inventions and industrial deepening.VI- Globalization and HumanCapitalBuilding up human capabilities is a coreoperational step to achieve human development.Employment opportunities are the means bywhich this capital is recycled to generate, ona larger scale, the different economic,social, political, scientific, technological,and cultural aspects of development. Giventhis, what is the impact of globalization onthe Egyptian labor market?Globalization and the Egyptian LaborMarketGlobalization could impact on a number ofdimensions of the Egyptian labor market, ofwhich the most important are theemployment level, the demand for labor, thewage level, labor market segmentation, andlabor force mobility. However, since theoverall condition of the labor marketdepends on national, regional andinternational factors, it becomes difficult toattribute all observed changes solely toglobalization.Features of the Labor Market in EgyptAvailable indicators show that theemployment and underemployment levelshave been declining in line with theimplementation of ERSAP policies. Thefemale unemployment rate, especiallyamong educated females, is much higherthan the male, and the education level of theEgyptian labor force implies that aroundhalf of the labor force cannot deal with thenew techniques and rapid technologicaladvances characterizing globalization. Inaddition, there is evidence for a generalpattern of deterioration in real wage rates in6 -Egypt Human Development Report 2000/2001