By Andrei Skvarsky.
The United Arab Emirates, a country with expatriates making up about 89 per cent of the population, has slapped fines on private companies for failing to meet the 2022 target for hiring Emirati nationals that was part of a 15-year-old policy of promoting the recruitment of Emiratis.
A 2022 decree, part of the so-called Emiratisation initiative, mandates that private companies of a minimum of 50 employees raise the quota for skilled jobs to be held by Emiratis by 2 per cent a year to reach 10 per cent by the end of 2026, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation.
A fine of 72,000 Emirati dirhams ($19,600) has been imposed for every job that was not filled by an Emirati in 2022 in failing to meet the quota, the ministry said in a statement.
Fines would go up by 1,000 dirhams ($272) a year until 2026, it said.
London-based recruitment company Odyssey argues that the 2 per cent quota will be difficult to calculate and that “it remains a challenge in the UAE labour market to attract and retain Emirati talent”.
Emiratisation, which was launched in 2007 and aims to promote the hiring of Emiratis in the private sector, is not the only economic nativism scheme in the Gulf region. Other instances are Omanisation, Qatarisation and Saudisation.
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