The Labour Ministry's handling of the UAE national unemployment problem came in for sharp criticism from top officials over the weekend.
"The job of the labour minister is to prepare plans to employ nationals and reduce unemployment. His job is not to prepare visas for foreigners," said Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Dubai Police chief and chairman of the Juvenile Welfare Association, at the Ramadan majlis he hosted on Thursday.
"The country suffers from not having able ministers to put forth a strategy to solve the unemployment problem," he said.
He said the country lacks a clear strategy in terms of unemployment.
Local markets should be freed from exploitation which will create more job opportunities for nationals.
He criticised the government departments that ask for foreign legal consultants instead of asking for national youth.
"Dubai Police have a number of people who got their Masters and PhDs from elite Arab and foreign universities.
They are qualified to cover the needs of all government, federal and local organisations," he added.
Lieutenant General Dahi said the number of unemployed nationals increased from 8,000 in 1995 to 24,000 in 1999 to 30,000 in 2003, and 35,000 in 2005.
He said the number of nationals who enter the job market varies between 1,500 to 2000 unemployed nationals every year.
Emiratisation in the federal government is 54 per cent, and in the local government it is 15 per cent, while the percentage of nationals in the private sector is currently one per cent only.
If private sector companies employed only one per cent of nationals every year, the unemployment problem for nationals will be solved, he said.
The majlis discussed issues related to unemployment such as, is there an employment problem in the UAE society, is emiratisation limited to government sectors, and why doesn't the private sector contribute in employing nationals.
Khalid Al Qasim of Dubai Economic Development Department said the labour ministry is busy with other jobs of visas and labour issues, when other departments such as Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department should do that.
He said a labour ministry that takes care of nationals' affairs should be established.
He said the problem of unemployment increases in undeveloped areas because job opportunities are mostly available in big cities of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
"Private sectors don't employ nationals. They employ people from their own nationalities," he said.
The Omani experience of employing nationals was also discussed. Mirza Al Sayegh of Al Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies in Scotland said, "We are the only country that allows 168 nationalities to work in the country."
He praised the Omani experience and asked is it possible for UAE nationals to work as a sales employee or a cashier in a store.
Gulf News
