Dubai: The number of Emiratis looking for work is expected to increase to more than 200,000 over the next 10 years, a senior official has said.
Saqr Gobash Saeed Gobash, Minister of Labour, said currently there were around 35,000 unemployed Emiratis but added that it depended on the definition of unemployment.
"If we count those who are working but looking for another job or those who are retired and looking for a job then the number of unemployed will come down to around 10,000," he explained.
Saqr Gobash spoke during a presentation at the Human Resources Club forum, organised by the Human Resources Authority this week at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Dubai.
The title of the forum was "The challenges facing Emiratisation and the role of the Khalifa Fund to Support Emiratisation."
Work conditions
He noted that employing Emiratis in the private sector was a challenge due to Emiratis refusing to accept the work conditions of non-government companies. These include longer working hours, lower salaries and fewer holidays.
"Also, Emiratis prefer to work with fellow Emiratis rather than with expatriates due to a cultural point of view which makes it even harder to employ them in the private sector," he said.
He said most unemployed were from the southern regions, including Fujairah, Khor Fakkan and other nearby areas.
Saqr Gobash said such an attitude against working in the private sector was an added burden on government departments which cannot offer jobs to all Emiratis.
He said the challenges facing the path of Emiratisation were in their focus and the eagerness of the leadership to provide ongoing support to initiatives and policies to stimulate economic development and secure decent livelihoods for Emiratis was represented by the establishment of the Khalifa Fund.
Empowerment
He said one of the Fund's focuses was to train national human resources to help them work in various sectors to boost the demand for Emiratis and to empower them.
Saqr Gobash said the introduction of the new system for the classification of private sector enterprises, which comes under the initiatives of the Ministry of Labour, was another step in the framework of the labour market in the short term, which contributes to supporting the process of Emiratisation.
The first classification category permits reduced fees for expatriate workers in companies that adhere to the Emiratisation of 15 per cent of jobs in the skilled labour sector.
He said some of the urgent programmes set up by the ministry was to control the employment of expatriates by allowing them to move from one company to another which will reduce the number of workers coming from abroad.
Dh440m allocated
The Khalifa Fund has earmarked Dh440 million to support Emiratisation and to give direct support to Emiratis who are working in the private sector so that their perks are on a par with those working in the public sector.
The support will be for a specified period of time.
Also, the Fund will help provide financial incentives for the employers in order to bridge the gap between the salaries of public sector and private sector jobs.
The Fund will also support the training of Emiratis to enable them to meet the requirements of jobs offered in the labour market.
