Hope is to match Emiratis and jobs

Better education, vocational training and finding satisfactory work for women cited as crucial to finding more jobs for nationals.

ABU DHABI // The emirate is providing jobs to people from all over the world, and yet unemployment among Emiratis in Abu Dhabi is 14 per cent. That is significantly higher than the national Emirati unemployment rate of 10 per cent, and the Government wants to reduce it.

A range of measures, such as improving education and vocational training, encouraging small businesses and understanding which jobs appeal to Emirati women are needed to bring the employment numbers in line with the rest of the country, according to government officials. "The emirate is providing quality work opportunities in various sectors of the economy for a workforce in excess of one million representing nationalities from around the globe," said Dr Mugheer al Khaili, director general of the Abu Dhabi Education Council, at the Emiratisation Employer Forum 2010. "Yet 14 per cent of our young men and women are unemployed. These statistics are alarming and demand urgent but also careful and strategic long-term solutions"

The unemployment numbers are higher in the rural areas of the emirate, at 18 per cent, and among women, at 21 per cent. The primary concerns, said Dr al Khaili, were the quality of schools, both public and private, and the fact that education was not matched to the requirements of the labour market. What was needed was nothing less than to "overhaul the education system in our schools" in order to create a knowledge-based economy, Dr al Khaili said.

The need is made apparent through statistics provided by the Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council, the body which has the job of spearheading the nation's Emiratisation policies. According to the council's database, 79 per cent of Emiratis looking for a job do not have a university degree. About 35 per cent have a primary education or less. One way to address this was through vocational training, said Abdullah al Darmaki, the general manager of the council. Emiratis would train for jobs in high school or after graduation, he said.

Dr al Khaili said the emirate needs nationals in wide areas of endeavour. "Abu Dhabi needs to build Emirati PhDs and scientists; it needs Emirati artists and poets; it needs Emirati doctors and entrepreneurs; and it needs Emirati engineers and it also needs Emirati technicians," he said. "Abu Dhabi is creating new industries, including semiconductors, aerospace, renewable energy, health, tourism and many others. We must be prepared to develop the necessary human capital to help drive these industries."

Women's unemployment should be addressed through private-sector employers offering women jobs that conform to the traditions of Emiratis, said Mohammed Omar Abdullah, the undersecretary of the Department of Economic Development. Some jobs, he said, "don't fit a woman's social status". Tawteen council estimates that about 100,000 Emiratis will join the workforce in the next 10 years, more than 70,000 of them from Abu Dhabi.

The council wants to reduce unemployment to five per cent or less as part of the Abu Dhabi 2030 plan. [e-mail]