GCC unemployment a 'ticking time bomb'

Abu Dhabi: Unemployment is the top concern in the six-member GCC countries, it was revealed at the labour ministers' meeting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, Labour Minister, called it a time bomb that needs to be defused through training of human resources.

Dr Al Ka'abi, however, refused offering the unemployed security payments and said these people should be trained better and may be paid a stipend during their training. "But unemployment security payment may encourage them to stay idle," he said.

Dr Al Ka'abi confirmed a Gulf News report that the UAE plans to limit the stay of unskilled workers to six years.

As reported in Gulf News on Monday, the six-year maximum stay for expatriates in the GCC countries was shelved at GCC level but the UAE will go ahead with it.

Dr Al Ka'abi, however, wished that the six-year maximum stay rule for expatriates be adopted in the six-member GCC countries.

On the criteria for defining unskilled workers, Dr Al Ka'abi said the UAE is studying the experiences of a number of countries and will take into consideration the education and experience of the workers.

Under the rule which may affect around two million workers, unskilled labourers and domestic help who complete six years in the country will have to leave but may return after two years.

Dr Al Ka'abi said the UAE signed an agreement with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) recognising the change of the workers' position from being immigrants to temporary contractual workers.

This, he said, allows the country to go ahead with rules making the maximum stay of workers six years - an initial stay of three years to be renewed only once for a similar period.

Dr Al Ka'abi also revealed that the labour ministry plans to invest workers' end of service benefits to ensure they receive them on time and companies never stop paying them even in the case of insolvency.

Earlier Dr Majid Bin Mohsen Al Alawi, Bahrain's Labour Minister, told the inaugural session that growing numbers of foreign workers in the GCC countries would turn citizens in these countries into minorities, who would end up losing their right to self-determination.

Al Alawi also warned against the huge remittance, which he estimated at $25 billion every year. "This occurs at the expense of public funds, satisfaction of citizens' needs and development of these countries."

The GCC ministers expressed the hope that a unified GCC labour market be set up to create more jobs for their nationals and cut the numbers of foreign workers.