Dubai: Dubai police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim has warned against the increase in the unemployment rate, which has reached a dangerous level, in the UAE.
Speaking at the Human Resource Conference recently, .Lt Gen Dahi said, “Despite the big expenditure on education in the UAE, there is a remarkable increase in the unemployment rate, up to 14.4 per cent, which represents nearly 43,000 Emiratis.”
“Moreover, there is a serious worry that the number of unemployed Emiratis to increase up to 100,000 in the coming ten years,” Lt Gen Dahi added.
He urged the Ministry of Labour to make strategic plans to develop human resources, and said that the fresh graduates, who are not in a position to get their families’ support, must be provided social security.
“The role of the Ministry of Labour should be more active and it should give more priority to employ Emiratis and create business opportunities to invest their potential rather than paying more attention to manage expatriate workers in the labour market, Lt Gen Dahi said.
“They should work harder to help business sector more available to all graduate Emiratis and jobseekers.”
The first International Human Resources Conference and Exhibition, held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, began in Dubai on Wednesday with experts calling for international co-operation and region-specific approaches in education, job creation and talent management.
“Developing human resources is a full life cycle in itself. There should be proper planning to develop the human recourses in the emirates to meets the present and future requirements,” Lt Gen Dahi said.
“For this we should rely on creative thinking which is based on offering incentives, evaluation, training, rehabilitation and attraction which suit the concept of modernisation”.
Lt Gen Dahi said, “Employers usually prefer to hire foreigners rather than Emiratis even if they have less experience because it is very easy to substitute them whenever they want. “
However, the lack of incentives and promotions for Emiratis in the labour market and the illogical excuses that Emiratis have not enough experience and don’t speak the English language to handle certain jobs are among the issue which we have to eliminate to beat unemployment, he remarked.
On the other hand, Lt Gen Dahi blamed Emiratis too for not taking up certain jobs while they are not welcomed to work in some other types of jobs.
“There is no job for Emiratis,” it is a very common answer for a lot of employers in the emirates, Lt Gen Dahi said.
Portraying the role of prosecutors, Lt Gen Dahi emphasised several issues, including rapid increase in the unemployment, that lead to crimes.
Humaid Mohammad Obaid Al Qutami, UAE Minister of Education, said in his keynote speech at the conference; “The UAE’s Vision 2021 articulated by our leadership aims to make the UAE one of the best countries in the world. The main pillars of this vision have a sharp focus on the role and efficiency of the country’s human resources.”
“The International Human Resources Conference and Exhibition reflects the UAE’s commitment to investing in and developing human capital through promoting innovation and creativity, to ultimately achieve comprehensive and sustainable development,” Al Qutami said.
The conference aimed to bring human capital development into sharp focus against the backdrop of the global economic crisis and socio-economic challenges in the Middle East. It has attracted government representatives, private sector leaders, researchers, strategic thinkers and more than 300 HR practitioners from the US, the UK, Australia, India and the Middle East.
