Abu Dhabi: In a bid to boost the presence of Emiratis in private businesses and create nearly 350,000 jobs for citizens by 2030, the Labour Ministry will shortly present proposals to the Cabinet to bring the private sector’s benefits on a par with those of the public sector, a top official said on Monday.
“Proposed reforms of the UAE’s labour market includes subsidising of citizens’ wages in the private sector, boosting their job security and a two-day weekend, among other benefits, to attract more citizen to the sector that boasts more than 4.2 million jobs,” Saqr Gobash Saeed Gobash told editors and columnists of the local media in a meeting in the capital on Monday.
Gobash said subsidisation of Emiratis’ salaries in the private sector may be proposed. And one of the ideas, touted by the minister but not yet a proposal, is to levy a Dh2 charge on foreign workers’ permits per day.
Such charges, he added, cover the wage subsidy and training of citizens to take up certain jobs such as HR and other sensitive jobs in strategic areas,” Gobash said.
The minister said the move was meant to create jobs in the private sector for 380,000 citizens by 2030.
“The national workforce is 225,000 workers, including 22,000 in the private sector and the rest are in the government. Some 30,000 job seekers are registered with the several governmental human resource authorities and 150,000 more workers are expected to enter the job market by 2020 and 200,000 more by 2030, which would make the total number of Emirati workers by then 605,000,” he said.
“These proposals will be presented to the Cabinet within the next few weeks,” Gobash said, but did not set a time-frame for implementation.
The move was prompted by the fact that the UAE’s public sector employment market is nearly saturated and that the Emiratisation quota system in the private sector, which boasts more than four million jobs, has failed to meet targets.
A study by the Federal Human Resource Authority showed that only up to 15,000 jobs can be created in the governmental sector for citizens this year, including 6,000 jobs by the Absher initiative, 6,600 jobs by Abu Dhabi and Dubai governments and 2,000 jobs in the Federal Government.
Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, told the Government Summit in Dubai on Tuesday working hours and days of the private sector will be adjusted to match those of the public sector.
“The Government is seriously looking into ways to encourage Emiratis to take up jobs in the private sector,” Shaikh Mansour was quoted as saying by the Labour Minister.
Shaikh Mansour added a citizen employed in the private sector is putting in longer hours and enjoying fewer benefits both in terms of holidays and salaries.
“The Government has no objection to subsidising of citizens’ wages in the private sector and in-depth studies are being made to set up a new system for this purpose,” Shaikh Mansour said.
Shaikh Mansour estimated that a citizen employed in the public sector is drawing a salary three times more than his or her counterpart in the private sector, while the Labour Ministry put the difference in holidays between the two sectors at 57 days.
Gobash estimated that of 800,000 skilled and professional jobs in the private sector, 200,000 to 300,000 can be offered to citizens, which meets the growth in the national workforce until 2020.
Gobash, however, stressed the Government will not impose any policies on the private sector nor exercise pressures on it. “While the Government supports the private businesses, they are expected to show social responsibility,” Gobash said.
Other benefits proposed for citizens who opt to work in the private sector are boosting job security by creating a fund for insurance against job loss, Gobash said, but he discouraged an unemployment payment.
