250,000 UAE employees sign up for mandatory unemployment insurance

Dubai: As many as 250,000 employees subscribed to the UAE’s mandatory unemployment insurance programme within 12 days of it coming into effect, a top official revealed on Thursday.

The UAE’s Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, Dr. Abdulrahman Abdulmannan Al Awar said this while replying to a question from Gulf News on the sidelines of a press conference held in Dubai.

The scheme, which started on January 1, has become a great success, the minister said.

“The unemployment insurance is across the board,” said Al Awar.

“Any employee in the UAE can benefit from it and should benefit from it and we encourage everyone to register,” he pointed out.

“We are very proud and happy that employees across the board benefit from this. Today we hit 250,000 subscriptions. It’s a great success”

Al Awar said the objective is to support employees if they lose their jobs due to reasons not caused by them.

“Then you will benefit from this until you find another opportunity in the market in three months... The cost of participation is very low. Just Dh5 if your salary is below Dh16,000 a month and Dh10, if it is above that. So it’s very affordable, unprecedented, innovative…It is not anywhere else in the world.”

The minister pointed out that the unemployment insurance is going to become a very important policy to attract and retain talent in the UAE.

With effect from January 1, 2023, employees in the UAE could subscribe to this new form of social security. According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE), the scheme is available to federal government and private sector employees, and subscribing to the scheme is mandatory. Once you are eligible to receive compensation under the scheme, you will receive a salary of up to three months in case of job loss.