Abu Dhabi: GCC labour ministers have warned that employment policies in the region do not live up to economic aspirations of the people as a preoccupation with welfare societies and knowledge-based economies is flooding job markets with foreigners. They called for a revamp of labour laws and the introduction of reform in job markets of the six Gulf states.
The ministers stressed that GCC countries must devise a system to curb recruitment of foreign workers unless it was reasonably clear that there were no local applicants for a post.
In his opening speech at the GCC Labour Ministers meeting in Abu Dhabi yesterday, Saqr Gobash Saeed Gobash, minister of labour, urged the six-member bloc to work to enable Gulf citizens to find jobs matching their aspirations, reform the labour market, and develop labour laws.
The ministers discussed ways of increasing employment options for nationals and a common policy on human trafficking and forced labour. It was also observed that current employment policies have led to a glut of foreign workers regardless of their skills and technical expertise.
"While these policies restrict movement of workers inside Gulf countries, they impose no restrictions on supply or demand of foreign workers, a matter which leads to flooding the labour market with foreign workers without any actual need for them," ministers said in a statement following a round-table discussion.
The ministers acknowledged that employment policies currently lack tools to ensure equality among all workers in terms of work conditions and compensation, which forces citizens into unfair competition with foreign workers and subsequently jeopardizes nationalisation efforts.
Sustainable development
The ministers stressed that the Gulf states must change their development pattern to maintain sustainable growth, and provide employment for their citizens. They explained that the GCC development model should find means to boost sustainable development, national identity, social security and demographic balance.
Gobash observed that the development model in the Gulf had last year relied on investing in sectors that need large numbers of expatriate workers, and that the annual recruitment rate of expatriates had risen sharply as a consequence.
"The majority of those are unskilled labourers, and the rate of recruitment exceeded growth rates of real national GDP, something which negatively affected the sustainability of growth as well as job opportunities for citizens of GCC countries," he said.
Dr Majeed Al Alawi, Bahrain's former minister of labour, said: "No one would ever believe that the GCC countries, which employ 17 million foreign workers, have more than one million unemployed citizens."
Reform call
The ministers called for achieving more flexibility in the labour market and framing rules to rationalise employment of foreign workers, particularly in sectors and professional streams that can be filled up by workers from local labour markets.
They said GCC countries must improve their information network relating to the labour market and strive for uniformity of professional qualifications and tests.
