UAE working to strengthen Emiratisation

The UAE is working to increase Emiratis' share in jobs in the future as part of a comprehensive vision for innovation-based sustainable development, said Humaid bin Demas Al Suwaidi, Assistant Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation.

To achieve this goal, the UAE has adopted multi-pronged strategies for economic development in the run-up to the post-oil era. It seeks to ensure decent jobs for nationals and expatriates, he said at a ministerial meeting of member countries of the Asia and the Pacific group, held as part of the 2017 International Labour Conference.

"At an early stage, the UAE implemented a strategy for economic diversification to reduce reliance on oil as the main source of national income. It invested oil revenues to build a balanced economy that can boom and grow without draining these resources. Diversification covers a wide range of areas, including industry, services, energy and petrochemicals," he added.

Reports issued by the Central Bank of the UAE in 2015 show that the country was on the right track towards executing this plan when the share of non-oil sectors in the nominal GDP went up to 76.5 percent, or AED1,041 trillion, while the share of the oil sector went down to 23.5 percent, from a previous 79 percent, Al Suwaidi explained.

However, for this strategy to succeed, the UAE should ensure decent jobs for all people, including its citizens and expatriates. As part of this effort, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation is developing national policies to prepare citizens for future jobs in new sectors such as green economy, Bin Demas further said.