Viability of 'Emiratization' stirs debate
The DailyStar - 12/04/2005
(quoted in full)

DUBAI: Efforts by the United Arabs Emirates to force quotas on foreign companies and government offices to hire more nationals is causing jitters among many employers, but government officials say the fears are unfounded. Like similar programs in Saudi Arabia or Oman, the program here, known as Emiratization, is meant to place more nationals in the job market and create a more equitable balance in the labor force.

But the difference between the national employment program here and that of other Gulf countries is that, given the massive economic boom in the U.A.E. - and particularly Dubai - there is little fear that the existing foreign community will be affected, at least not in the short term.
The U.A.E.'s population is estimated at four million, but the local population only counts for about 17 percent. The local skilled labor force is even smaller because only about 40 percent of the population has college degrees and a significant portion of that are men who run their own business.
What is causing controversy is the way the government is going about enforcing the quota system and differences between what the labor market needs and the type of skills and expectations applicants have, local and foreign business sources here say.
According to official figures, there are currently about 32,000 people unemployed in the country, with another estimated 6,000 university graduates entering the market each year.
"We are totally open to hiring locals but in our business we would mostly hire them at lower levels and then train them and that is a problem," says an executive with an international insurance company in Dubai."
Salary and expectations are problems here. There are cultural issues here. People look more toward short-term advancement whereas in many jobs these would be long-term advancements," says Chalk.
One complaint often heard in the business community is that local employees frown upon entry-level jobs such as front desk receptionist, or office help that could require what is perceived as menial chores.
Marwan al-Sawaleh, assistant director of Tanmia, the government agency set up in 1999 to help place more local nationals in the job market, says many companies in the public sector are being inflexible and are even prejudicing against U.A.E. nationals.
"The stereotyping of U.A.E. nationals and saying they only want to be managers and work for high salaries is no longer true. "The government is investing a lot of time and money on candidates training them for the skills that are needed and placing them in the right spot," he says."
Even if companies take a candidate for a few weeks or few months and he or she does not work out, I am willing to take the person back and give them someone else and I will pay for the first person to be trained for something else," he adds.
Another point of contention between the government and the public sector is enforcing quotas.
The government has issued - and implemented - much higher quotas for the government-controlled sectors, although not every field has been targeted because the government admits not enough local workers are available.
In the private sector, so far only the insurance and banking sectors have been ordered to increase their local nationals by 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively, each year.
Tanmia's Sawaleh says his office is regularly studying various sectors to see if there is a match between their requirements and available job applicants.
Critics say the quota system is not working and the government should either discontinue it or make a genuine effort to bridge the gap between the supply and demand forces."Emiratization is a game. It is a game of numbers. It is all about how can you bring in more local people, how can you make your organization look good," says a veteran expatriate in the hospitality business.
Although the government has not officially slapped the sector with quotas, employers in the field say there is pressure.
"We try to be as proactive as we can but how can you hire locals who would not touch alcohol and feel it's beneath them to make hotel beds? If they try to slap official quotas on this industry, it would be a farce," she says.
Sawaleh says while the quota system has officially been in place for a number of years, the government is only now getting serious about enforcing it by all means necessary because it has not seen enough goodwill on the part of the private sector.
So far the national labor force has had little affect on either the expatriates already here or their increasing attraction to the U.A.E. But there are fears that if government and private sector entities fail to hire more nationals, they might have to let go of their existing force to meet the quota.
Ettisalat, the semi-governmental telecommunications company, laid off about 150 of its mainly Asian labor force so it can increase its mandated quota from 43 percent to 50 percent.
Abdel-Aziz al-Sawaleh, executive vice-president for human resources at Ettisalat denies that reaching the quota was the primary reason for letting the foreigners ago.