I heard that a recent study suggests that within the Middle East region alone we are at least 300 ATC's short and yet local ANS providers are recruiting locals at a very low rate (if at all).
My experience in NZ suggests that recruitment really only became a problem over recent years when HR became more intimately involved in the process. I suggest that this is due to the recruitment cirteria having more to do with a face fitting the corporate profile/values rather than whether someone has the ability to 'push tin' and as Westaus say's, that training and employment of ATC's is seen as a cost burden to be minimised...
TP