UAE created 248,000 jobs in pandemic year: Sheikh Mohammed

Dubai - He stressed that crisis management created opportunities.

Muzaffar Rizvi

Published: Sun 23 May 2021, 3:19 AM

The UAE has once again proven its economic resilience by creating hundreds of thousands of jobs last year when the global economy was shrinking and international trade was on the decline.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Saturday disclosed that the emirate created nearly 248,000 jobs last year when millions of people were rendered jobless or unemployed due to the global economic slowdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The world economy shrank 4 per cent, international trade dropped 20 per cent, and the world lost millions of jobs in 2020,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

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“In the same year, the UAE economy created 100,000 jobs in retail sector and e-commerce and 148,000 jobs in the financial, technology and telecommunications sector. We repeat: Crisis management creates opportunities and management crises destroy gains.”

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Referring to the UAE’s successful strategy to tackle the pandemic, analysts, executives and corporate leaders said the emirate was one of the very few nations that opened their borders for travel and economy for business following a successful drive against the pandemic, resulting in the creation of a high number of jobs amidst a challenging environment.

Atik Munshi, managing partner at Enterprise House, said opportunity is hidden in every challenge and this adage has proved true for Dubai than the rest of the world.

“No wonder certain business sectors have shown growth particularly compared to their counterparts around the world. Such would obviously increase employment rates in those sectors. The real estate has shown very positive signs too and more international FDI is expected to flow,” he added.

— muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com

Photo: Alamy.ae