Expats account for 99 per cent of private sector jobs in UAE

Dubai, Apr 7 (UNI) Expatriates workers occupy 99 per cent of jobs in the private sector and 91 per cent in the public sector out of a total of 3.1 million employees in the UAE, according to a Dubai Municipality official.

''Going by the trend, by 2009 UAE nationals will account for less than eight per cent of the workforce and by 2020 the figure will further decrease to less than four per cent,'' said Jasem Ahmad Al Ali, human resource specialist at the Human Resources Department of Dubai Municipality.

He said the private sector accounts for more than 52 per cent of the total jobs in the UAE.

''As much as 10 per cent of UAE nationals resign per year due to social and cultural factors because low trust is an impediment to employment for UAE nationals'' the Gulf News quoted the official as saying.

''This is in addition to gender inequality in terms of position and salary. Nepotism, or what is called locally as 'wasta', also prevails in the workforce,'' the official added.

Mr Ali presented a research paper on 'Structural Barriers to Emiratisation: Analysis and Policy Recommendations' at the Eighth International Business Research Conference recently held in Dubai and was conferred with the best paper and the best presenter awards among participants from 32 countries.

He also suggested a set of measures to boost emiratisation in the country asserting that there is a need to enact policies and legislation to ensure the representation and participation of UAE nationals in the country's workforce.

The official found there were no accurate statistics available for unemployed Emiratis. He said the unemployment rate for UAE nationals was around 13 per cent.

However, not all job-seekers were registered with Tanmia (The National Human Resource Development and Employment Authority) and those registered might not be prepared to take up work, but were seeking better opportunities, he added.

The private sector attracted fewer nationals because of low pay, lack of committed national work culture and a lack of opportunity for training them, he said.

UNI XC RJ KP1051