Expatriate workers may soon come to dominate the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s labor force. Within a decade, a four-fold leap in foreign laborers is forecasted to emerge, a recently released UAE Labor Ministry report reveals.
While at the end of 2001, some 1.45 million foreign workers were employed in the Emirates, their number is expected to surge to 4.8 million in 2015. Some 87 percent of them arrived from neighboring Asian countries, predominantly India, but less than 11 percent came from neighboring Arab states.
Failing in its drive to curb foreign labor, the UAE government faces at the same time an estimated 9.6 percent unemployment rate among its citizens. Emiratization is a government long-term initiative aimed at promoting job opportunities for UAE nationals in the private sector, through training and education as well as legislation.
Nonetheless, despite the many efforts invested in the national priority scheme, young Gulf Arabs refuse to fill blue-collar positions, compelling local employers to hire foreign help. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
