Abu Dhabi:

A 1,000 Emirati graduates will be given jobs in the private sector this year, with the Ministry of Presidential Affairs paying for their training, according to a memorandum of understanding signed yesterday between officials at the ministry and a group of 25 privately owned establishments.

The ministry will ensure that the graduates have a sufficient period of training and will pay for the cost of training, according to Nasser Thani Juma Al Hameli, assistant undersecretary of the technical office at the ministry.

“Graduates will be trained for almost eight months in different organisations and the ministry will bear the cost of 30 per cent of their total salary,” Al Hameli explained. The move is one element of a multi-tasked programme tagged Absher to help Emiratis find jobs in the private sector.

Over 20,000 job opportunities will be created for Emirati graduates in the next five years.

Although the UAE has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the Middle East and North Africa region, joblessness among Emiratis is estimated at 20 per cent of the total number of nationals ready to work, according to National Statistics Bureaus figures released earlier.

Al Hameli told Gulf News there are more than 3,000 job opportunities in the private sector readily available, threefold more than the Emirati graduates this year.

The ministry has formed partnerships with a group of prominent private and public sector companies to resolve the issue of unemployment among Emiratis. “No effort will be spared to integrate them into the workforce.” Al Hameli said.

The ministry will ensure that graduates have a sufficient period of training and will pay the training cost.

The initiative was launched in 2012 by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to boost the number of UAE nationals working in the private sector.

“The initiative has four pillars — creating jobs, training and rehabilitating Emirati workforce, hiring them in the private sector, and developing and encouraging the role of the private sector in the country,” Al Hameli said.

“Emiratis must be given the opportunity to work in the private sector to increase the Emiratisation rate in the job market and reduce the huge number of UAE nationals, who prefer to work in the public sector, by increasing wages to no less than Dh10,000 as well as awareness of posts available in the privates sector,” he added.

UAE Central Bank Governor Nasser Al Suwaidi told Gulf News earlier that the Central Bank supported the initiative and worked with stakeholders to hire Emiratis.

“We fully support this initiative which is for the sake of our people. There are so far 16,000 Emiratis working in the banking sector and we expect the number to increase further based on the quotas allocated by the government,” Al Suwaidi said.

The Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council, Emirates Nationals Development Programme, and the National HR Development and Employment Authority are the main parties supervising and implementing the programme to integrate UAE nationals into the private workforce for the prosperity of the private sector and well-being of the UAE.

“The most valuable asset of any organisation is its people and this why staff development is such a significant focus for us. Through our innovative Emiratisation programme we work hard to develop our UAE national staff,” said James Hogan, president and chief executive officer of Etihad Airways.