08 Jan 2007

Dubai: The Emirates National Development Programme (ENDP) aims to employ 2,000 UAE nationals this year, a senior official has announced.

Ahmad Al Tayer, Chairman of the ENDP's Board of Trustees, said at a press conference announcing the organisation's annual emiratisation report that 2006 was a success in achieving a sufficient emiratisation rate and that 2007 will witness even greater success.

The ENDP was launched in November 2005 by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The programme has identified six sectors which would provide long-term career opportunities. The sectors are real estate, semi-government, insurance, banking, trade and hospitality.

Therefore this year might witness a greater number of UAE nationals employed in those sectors, according to Al Tayer.

"Although we are a new organisation I believe that our strategy has proved fruitful. I do not believe that the way to emiratisation is to force companies to recruit nationals. We want the private sector to see the joint interest in employing UAE nationals," said Al Tayer.

Azzah Al Sharhan, Director of ENDP said that they work together with the private sector and give them help to achieve their emiratisation targets and provide UAE nationals with jobs they stay in.

ENDP has received 4,879 applications since its establishment out of which 1,232 were employed, the majority being in the hospitality, trade and real estate sectors.

The insurance sector has been lagging behind in the emiratisation process and according to the ENDP statistics they were not able to employ a single person in that sector.

"Although the insurance sector has the potential to attract UAE nationals as it has the suitable working environment but still no progress has been made. I think that the main reason behind this trend is that this sector has been hijacked by the managers of those companies as they portray it as an impossible task for UAE nationals," said Al Tayer.

Comprehensive survey to be held
A comprehensive survey for UAE national workforce is to be conducted by the Emirates National Development Programme (ENDP) in 2007.
 
Azzah Al Sharhan, Director of ENDP, said that they are planning to conduct a survey of the UAE national workforce for 2007.

“Up till date there is a lack of data on the UAE national workforce although several governmental bodies have released data on the subject. Today we have several statistics but in many occasions they contradict each other and there are very misleading therefore we need a comprehensive survey,” said Al Sharhan.

ENDP also launched an annual report on emiratisation which will explore the socio-economic impact of nationalisation in the private sector as well as highlighting the major achievements and challenges facing the emiratisation process. The first edition is to be released at the end of 2007.

Statistics
Number of Job seekers in ENDP 4,879
Number of employed applicants 841
Number of unemployed 4,038
Number employed in 2006 1232
Number of remaining applications: 2,806.
Number of job vacancies registered with ENDP: 4,000.

Numbers employed sector-wise in 2006
Hospitality: 539; Trade: 512; Banking: 121; Real Estate: 36; Semi Government: 24; Insurance: 0

By Wafa Issa

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