91% expats in UAE workforce: Experts call for Emiratisation

Dr Jasim Al Ali, Faisal Shanfari and Hanin Mohammed Alshareif at the second day of the GOV HR Summit in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. - Photo by Ryan Lim

With slower economic growth and job losses becoming a common phenomenon across the globe, the process of nationalisation and Emiratisation took the spotlight at the sixth GOV HR Summit held in Abu Dhabi.
Based on the surveys and findings of various agencies, an expert pointed out that the non-nationals in the GCC workforce is estimated at 75 per cent, and the UAE had the largest number of expats in workforce at 91 per cent. In 2018, nationals formed just eight per cent of the UAE workforce. The number is projected to further dip to six per cent in 2020 and to 3 per cent by 2030.
Dr Jasim Al Ali, deputy CEO for shared services, Dubai Media Incorporated, said 2030 is going to be a 'catastrophic' year.
"It's high time that nationalisation policy gets the attention. The GCC countries and private sector companies have made this a top priority. However, the obstacles related to organisational inefficiencies, failure of leadership, and management style in both the public and private sector have resulted in the ineffectivity of the nationalisation policy. We are talking about nationalisation for the last three decades but so far we have failed to increase the number of nationals in the public and private sector," he said.
He noted the need for a sustainable policy to find right national talents for the right jobs.
Ali said that according to government statistics, the employment of nationals remains at less than 2 per cent in the private sector, which comprises more than 62 per cent of the total jobs in the country.
Also, jobseekers have increased from 30,000 in 2006 to 36,000 in 2018.
"Jobseekers in the GCC stand at an average of 6.1 per cent. Oman and Bahrain at 15 per cent, Saudi Arabia at 11.8 per cent, the UAE at 4.2 per cent, Kuwait at 4.1 per cent and the lowest in Qatar at 1.5 per cent," he said.
Ali said the total population of the GCC has reached over 54 million in 2018 and is expected to grow by nearly 12 million in 2030. GCC states need to create 500,000 top private jobs annually at twice the present salaries.
'Nationalisation is no number game'
Meanwhile, Faisal Shanfari, general manager for shared services at Oman Oil Marketing Company, said nationalisation needs to be addressed soon as the issue is starting to grow bigger. "There is an issue in Oman with unemployment of nationals."
He said there are unique programmes in the GCC addressing the different segments of nationalisation. "One programme is on preparing the workforce as per needs of the market. Another is on enhancing the skills as per requirement."
He highlighted the need to shift the nationalisation strategy from a numbers game to a quality game. "Companies can't hire nationals just to achieve the numbers, because later on, it will affect productivity and lead to catastrophic scenarios."
He said that in Oman, the government has teamed up with big companies to identify the talent pool and to nurture them. "This process may be slow but will get the market the remedy needed for a national workforce."
Shanfari said foreign workers in the country needn't be apprehensive about the strategy of nationalisation. "National workforce is not to replace the expatriates. Developing countries in the GCC need lot of manpower, including nationals and expats," he added.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com