15,000 jobs will be created for Emiratis in private sector

Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli during a Press meet held at Bab Al Qasr hotel in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday,

A total of 15,000 private sector job opportunities for Emiratis will be created by the end of this year, the Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation announced on Wednesday.
"Achieving this challenge will only work if everyone takes a res-ponsibility, as Emiratisation involves companies, governments, education sectors and the Emiratis themselves," according to Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli.
The minister pointed out that a 'Tawteen Agenda' has been created, which works hand-in-hand with the key performance indicator of National Agenda of 2021, that includes having five per cent of all Emiratis working in the private sector.
He said the ministry's Tawteen Agenda "encourages the private sector to accept the UAE nationals" in the workforce.
In order to achieve the national agenda, the ministry has set a programme that comprises three phases: Accelerating recruitment, enabling the requirement of Emiratis and raising the competitive advantage of UAE nationals.
"We will focus on targeting certain industries for Emiratisation. We will also launch a campaign to encourage Emiratis to think about the private sector in a strategic way."
The ministry also launched the Tawteen Partnership Club, which provides 2,000 private sector companies that are participating in Emriatisation programmes with incentives, to hire 400 Emiratis with an average salary of Dh10,000 per month, and as a return will have their business fees cut down.
"We are also launching 1,500 satellite offices for the private sector companies who are interested in hiring UAE nationals from the northern emirates, in condition that they hire Emiratis from the same emirate."
22% rise in private sector
The minister said that by providing career counselling, encouraging Emiratis to join private sector and preparing programmes to close the gap of competency has increased the number of Emiratis joining the private sector a whopping 22 per cent in 2017. In 2016, the total number of Emiratis hired in the private sector were 5,608, however, the number increased to 6,862 by December 31, 2017.
The minister said that the launch of the Tawteen Gate, one of the e-portals the ministry uses to identify the candidates who are looking for jobs, has also increased the number of Emirati jobseekers in the private sector.
Currently the portal reveals there are 4,155 job seekers, 63 per cent of which are female and 37 per cent are male.
The minister added: "Some companies only pretend to go through Emiratisation, but we are not naive, we are aware of what they are doing and we will confront them."
He said a Tawteen portal will reveal if companies prioritise hiring expats before Emiratis for job positions.
"If they issue the work visa for the expat, it will be linked to the portal and it will automatically reveal all the Emiratis who are fit for this position."
jasmine@khaleejtimes.com