UAE national workforce could double to 500,000 by 2020

Dubai: The UAE national work force is expected to double by 2020 to reach half a million, the Minister of Labour said on Sunday.

Saqr Gobash said at the inauguration of the third annual Human Assets expansion Congress Mid-East, that a main challenge is to create job opportunities for UAE nationals especially for those below 30.

Currently, the Emirati workforce is about 250,000 workers but more than 38 per cent of the UAE national population is below the age of 15, according to data.

Some 15,000 Emiratis are graduating every year, according to The National Human and Resource Development and Employment authority (Tanmia) statistics.

"Our economy needs to create more job opportunities in the next eleven years than it created collectively in the last four decades," said Gobash.

Another challenge which Gobash highlighted is the concentration of the national workforce in the public sector and the concentration of new opportunities in non-productive sectors.

"The ministry will also work on improving expatriate workforce skills through developed regulations for recruitment that aim to increase the productivity and to reduce the gap between the cost of recruitment and its return on the national product and enhance legislations that protect the expatriate workforce," he said.

All Countries needs to create more job opportunities for their nationals. If 15,000 Emiratis are graduating every year, it will not be difficult to provide more than 250,000 UAE nationals
Mohammad Habib
Dubai,UAE
Posted: November 17, 2008, 15:03