Jobless rate in UAE is the lowest in Arab world

DUBAI — The UAE has the lowest rate of unemployment of only three per cent among its citizens at the level of the Arab world, according to the reports of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Arab Labour Organisation, said a senior official from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MLSA).

By A Staff Reporter

Published: Wed 20 Oct 2004, 9:35 AM

Last updated: Thu 2 Apr 2015, 2:42 PM

Dr Khalid Al Khazraji, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, said yesterday that the unemployment among the UAE nationals does not even exceed three per cent. However, he noted that the country lacks official and specific statistics on the size of the unemployment among the UAE citizens. “This rate of almost three per cent is basically calculated on predictions on which the government builds its strategies and plans for the employment of UAE nationals in the private and the public sectors.”

This figure is way less than the 16.3 per cent unemployment rate among UAE nationals that was announced earlier by some officials on different occasions.

However, the fact remains that the contribution of the UAE citizens to the private sector is still too weak for various reasons, some of them attributed to the reluctance of national job-seekers, while others to the reluctance of companies.

In this context, Dr Khazraji pointed to the recent decision of the Cabinet to introduce quota system for the employment of UAE nationals in some businesses in the private sector. The Cabinet has authorised the MLSA and the National Human Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia) to be in charge of the implementation of the order.

Accordingly, Tanmia has listed between 800 and 900 private companies in the trade sector employing more than 50 workers that will have to fulfill the two per cent employment quota of UAE nationals within the next two months, Dr Khazraji said, calling on the targeted establishments to observe the quota system.

The Under-Secretary for Labour Affairs warned that the ministry and Tanmia are determined to implement the new regulation and will penalise the establishments, which fail to fulfill the quota.

“With the beginning of the new year, the ministry will suspend the issuance of employment visas to the errant establishments failing to fulfill the two per cent quota in the trade sector, the four per cent in the banking sector and the five per cent in the insurance sector.