Among independent countries in the Persian Gulf oil-exporting countries are pointed as a group that using its development resource factors has made significant economic progress. Among them a prominent place is occupied by the United Arab Emirates (the UAE) that is a country that having faced with many challenges managed to outrun other countries in the region by a number of social and economic indicators. The UAE government has implemented a new strategy known as emiratisation that is aimed at full integration of the population of the UAE into economic processes and the transfer of skills and experience from foreign experts working in the country to the UAE citizens. Emiratisation is the government policy according to which indigenous inhabitants have priority over the others in employment.
Now in the period of high oil prices the UAE is also specialized in the development of the financial sector, where a large number of foreign experts work. Ironically, despite the shortage of labor power and the rapid economic development in the region, there is significant unemployment among the locals. National staff is not competitive in comparison with foreigners. The inconformity between the demand for labor of the growing economy and the supply of the education sector made the government apply the policy of emiratisation to overcome unemployment among the locals and to provide the national economy with highly qualified specialists by given them proper education. The government set up objectives to achieve a certain level of occupations by the UAE citizens such as 90 per cent of administrative posts, 80 per cent of financial and economic ones, and 60 per cent of legal and engineering positions, 75 per cent in educational sphere and 60 per cent in medical field.
But meanwhile the policy of emiratisation meets some challenges and should overcome some obstacles to succeed. First of all, the nationals should get proper education and experience to be competitive at labor market and this demands government’s support greatly. It causes the situation when highly skilled locals striving for well-paid jobs turn away from the private sector and look for the posts in the government sector or establish their own business. The statistics says that only 20,000 of four million people currently employed in the private sector are locals. Thenational.ae repots that only 19,874 of the 3,895,695 people in the private sector are Emirati, according to the 2011 Labour Report, which the National Bureau of Statistics enlightened. Dubai has the highest number of Emiratis in the private sector with 9,857, followed by Abu Dhabi with 6,898 and Sharjah with 1,691.
In order to promote emiratisation the UAE government found special institutions and organizations, the most significant part among them Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council (ADTC) established in 2005 by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan plays. ADTC is aimed to raise competitiveness of the national workforce comparing with foreign one by taking such means as implementing different qualification courses, vocation training, upgrade skills, staff development, realization of different programs like Emiratisation in Aircraft Manufacturing or issue of Emirati Careers Magazine. Another institutions engaged in the public sector that fulfills the same tasks are Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Abu Dhabi Education Council, Abu Dhabi Retirement, Pensions and Benefits Fund, General Directorate of Abu Dhabi Police. All of them maintain special programs to give nationals the necessary qualifications and skills needed to feel competitive at the job market.
Taking into consideration non-government institutions Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF) established in 2007 should be mentioned. MBRF takes efforts in providing the region with the proper educational infrastructure and overcoming the difference between the UAE and developed countries. Thanks to the donation by Sheikh its funds account for 10 billions of dollars that makes it be one of the ten largest global educational foundations. MBRF supports three areas: culture, enterprise and employment, and education. It finances research programs, offers scholarships to study at top universities in the world, is engaged in the development of the international network of business incubators. In addition, the Foundation develops a study placement program for young professionals in government, private sector and non-government organizations, and encourages the creation of jobs for skilled workers.
So in these conditions, the quality of education is a strategic objective of the government policies. The UAE makes great efforts to develop the national staff by implementing ambitious programs for the development of universities, inviting foreign scientists. Improving education is based on five main themes: improving student achievements, the development of the school environment, providing equal educational opportunities for all students, administrative efficiency and effectiveness in the Ministry of Education. The other point of promoting emiratisation is setting up quotas of national staff working in private companies. It is caused by the fact that emiratisation doesn’t succeed in the private sector and the expected level of locals’ engagement is not reached. This is also determined by resigning of local candidates from working places soon after being taken on. Having been given too much responsibility they realize that working in industry, banking or any other field of the private sector is not their vocation. So there is no way to get a model employee if a person has no motivation and is not interested in things he does. Most young nationals long for government jobs attracted by lower responsibility, higher salaries and longer holidays and don’t even consider the private sector. Many locals hired by quota don’t have the necessary experience and skills; they are taken only to fulfill the government policy of emiratisation and this fact doesn’t make any profit to the companies they work. In this case the government should think over other approaches than just imposing quotas. The government policy should keep the strategy of the parallel development of the economy and labor relations, and try to avoid the exclusion of the private sector that may occur due to the introduction of compulsory quotas for the employment of nationals.
As for companies of the private sector that promotes the idea of emiratisation the aviation sector starts serving a purpose. The UAE trying to be engaged not only in the oil industry diversifies its economy and pays attention to aviation. For example, Etihad Airways established in 2003 now accounts for more than 50 destinations and makes efforts to draw more nationals to the aviation field. The company struggle to hire qualified and skilled staff; it expects the candidates to be qualified academically before starting flight training. If applicants don’t meet the demanded level of qualification, the company following the policy of emiratisation offers special courses to bring them up to the necessary level.
As part of this strategy, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security posed an objective to achieve a rate of 25 percent emertisation of the personnel in all banks in the UAE. So another example of providing emiratisation is that to achieve this goal the bank Emirates NBD needed to increase the level of English among its employees. Students from the UAE having studied English at school turned out to know it not in a proper way, so Emirates NBD was to assist employees in learning English directly in the process of working. In the UAE it is important that representatives of the country should occupy leading positions in different sectors of the economy, but it is a hard point if they suffer from misunderstanding in communicating with the business world.
So in order to succeed in implementing the policy of emiratisation the government should consider simultaneously two sides – employers and employees, all their demands. It should support the nations to be more ambitious to get high qualifications and encourage the private sector to hire the locals not using strict quotas but some kind of motivation like giving benefits, for instance.
Works Cited
N Al Khan Mohhamed. Statistics suggest sorry state of Emiratisation in private sector. The National, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
Sandrine. A view on emiratisation from the Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council. Compensation and Benefits with a Middle East Flair, 12 April 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
Taher, Amina. Emiratisation means much more than mere quota filling. The National, 19 Feb. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
Williams, Jane Emiratisation: The way forward? Insead Knowledge, 25 July 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
