As per the directives of H.E. Dr. Ali bin Abdullah Al Kaabi, Minister of Labour and Chairman of Board of Trustees of Tanmia, the National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority, trading companies in the UAE have been offered a grace period of three months to comply with the Emiratisation target of 2 per cent for 2005.
The Ministry of Labour has urged all trading companies to make necessary arrangements before the expiry of the grace period on April 30, 2006 and to send the Emiratisation follow-up forms duly filled up, to Tanmia at the earliest.
In an attempt to boost the Emiratisation drive in the trade sector, the Board of Ministers had issued a decree in 2004, making it mandatory for companies in this sector with over 50 employees, to ensure a two per cent yearly increase in the number of UAE Nationals working in the company. Only workshops, garages, junkyards and companies located in free zones are exempted from this law.
However, an evaluation of this law revealed that a large number of trading companies in the UAE have not strictly implemented it. In 2005, 1,098 trading companies were issued circulars on the new law, but only 646 companies responded to this circular by submitting their records. Tanmia’s analysis of these records showed that, by the end of December 2005, only seven companies had achieved or exceeded the two per cent quota. Out of 158,404 employees in the 646 companies, only 259 were UAE Nationals, an Emiratisation percentage of 0.16.
Feddah Abdullah Lootah, Acting Director General, Tanmia, said, “UAE’s trade sector has played a vital role in contributing to the overall growth of the nation’s economy and has provided employment to thousands of people. However, the low percentage of UAE Nationals working in this sector is certainly a cause for concern and we hope that companies step up the process of hiring the required number of Nationals. The success of the Emiratisation drive requires the cooperation and commitment of private sector companies and we look forward to their support in the coming months.”
Tanmia, the National Human Resource Development & Employment Authority in the UAE, was established by a Presidential decree in November 1999, to address the imbalance in the labour market, due to excessive dependence on expatriate workforce. Tanmia is engaged in a coordinating role, between national job seekers and employers in the private and government sectors, to facilitate increased entry of nationals in the labour market. The responsibilities that rest with the Authority are: to set up the overall policy of the Authority and supervise its implementation, conduct sustained operational and administrative labour market studies and analysis, provide career counselling and guidance to the national work force, follow-up and evaluate employment of nationals in public and private sectors, support small investment enterprises through the establishment of self-employment projects for national human resources and develop programmes for training and qualifying nationals seeking employment, in conformity with the labour market needs.
