Inside the FNC: finding UAE statistics a near-impossible task

Statistical agencies in the country are failing to keep current information.

Salem Al Ameri wonders how the FNC could help Emiratis find work if there is no data on unemployment. Silvia Razgova / The National

ABU DHABI // For years now, the FNC has struggled to find national unemployment statistics.

Many candidates made promises during the elections that the issue of unemployment would be addressed. As a result, the subject made its way on to FNC agendas when it convened in 2011.

But who was responsible for compiling unemployment statistics?

The council first pursued the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), but it kept no figures on unemployment.

Then they went to the Ministry of Labour. Officials there said there were about 40,000 unemployed in the country, putting the rate at 15 per cent. But Saqr Ghobash, the Minister of Labour, said he could not verify that figure.

The council stuck by that number, as it was the only one they have been able to get. Another attempt, in March, to get unemployment statistics was even less successful.

Tanmia, the national human resource development and employment authority, said it was still working on a nationwide system to gather information from all emirates and combine it in one database.

The lack of statistics, even 15 years after the setting up of Tanmia, has upset members.

Salem Al Ameri, from Abu Dhabi, who sought the figures from Tanmia, wondered how the FNC could help Emiratis find work if it had no idea how many had jobs or was seeking them?

It is not just unemployment figures, members have struggled to obtain data pertaining to health issues, including diabetes, cancer and other chronic diseases.

As early as 2012, member Hamad Al Rahoomi (Dubai) questioned Reem Al Hashemy, Minister of State and chairwoman of the NBS, about the lack of data on such important issues.

Mr Al Rahoomi complained that for more than a year the FNC had been struggling to get information from the NBS and had only received “20 per cent” of the data sought.

Members have also had to use personal connections to get data or go to ministries for information. “My biggest problem from the FNC has been the lack of statistics provided by the Government. We ask for information, then we get nothing,” Mr Al Rahoomi said.

Ms Al Hashemy agreed that members needed access to statistics and said she would continue the conversation with the council, but nothing has yet changed.