Labour ministry embarks on huge expansion plan

Dubai: The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is making major investments in personnel and information technology to keep pace with the UAE's rapidly expanding workforce.

The current staffing level of 140 inspectors will nearly triple to 400 by the end of the year, according to Ahmad Kajoor, assistant undersecretary at the ministry.

Additionally, the ministry is embarking on several initiatives to upgrade its capabilities in information technology and will spend Dh25 million this year on IT software and services. This is a more than six-fold increase over its IT budget in 2005 of Dh4 million.

Kajoor said the ministry would begin interviewing candidates for new inspectors after Ramadan and hopes to complete the process shortly thereafter. He added that the ministry's ultimate goal is to have 1,000 inspectors on the ground in the next year and a half.

The ministry is responsible for inspecting 300,000 businesses and ensuring working conditions are safe and humane for the 800,000 low-skilled labourers working in the UAE. "Considering how the economy is growing, in the next few years these numbers will seem small," he said.

The hiring plans will be complemented by technological improvements to make the inspectors more efficient and effective. The ministry recently signed a Dh5 million contract for an inspection software system from Jadian Enterprises and Intertec Systems.

The software is a risk management-based system that will be installed on the mobile devices inspectors will carry with them, such as PDAs and tablet PCs. The software is designed to evaluate which businesses should be inspected more frequently based on past performance and other criteria.