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Employment

Employment news from the Middle East and beyond. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

Workers across the Gulf are heading online to hone their professional English language skills
  • EXCLUSIVE

English language skills top of learning list for UAE workers

An online course in English for career development from the University of Pennsylvania has emerged as the most popular course in the Mena region and among the top five courses in Gulf countries. In addition, a course in how to write professional emails in English from the Georgia Institute of Technology ranked among the five […]

UAE warns against hiring ‘ghost’ Emiratis to meet quota targets

UAE authorities have warned private sector organisations against hiring ‘ghost’ Emirati employees in the race to meet their Emiratisation targets. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation last week called on companies with more than 50 employees to expedite a target to fill 10 percent of their positions with Emiratis before the end of 2022. […]

Person, Human, Laptop

UAE launches new unemployment insurance scheme

The United Arab Emirates launched an unemployment insurance scheme on Tuesday as part of reforms aimed at attracting more talent and investment to the regional business hub amid rising competition. The new scheme, originally announced in May, offers compensation for up to three months for public and private sector employees who lose their jobs, the […]

Person, Human, Man

Young Arabs want action on wasta, lack of jobs and rising costs

Nearly two thirds of young adults in the Levant are struggling financially and a sizeable minority have fallen into debt, according to this year’s Arab Youth Survey. The report also highlights spiralling living costs and scarce job opportunities for much of the Middle East and North Africa’s Generation Z.  The 14th Arab Youth Survey interviewed […]

Saudi tops global expat salaries list while UAE slips

Saudi Arabia continues to offer the highest expatriate salaries in the world, while wages in the UAE have fallen in real terms, recruitment experts have said. Expat salaries in Saudi Arabia rose by 11 percent year on year in 2021 to an average of $188,000 for middle management roles, according to the latest MyExpatriate Market […]

  • Analysis

Quotas for funding women-led startups could address male bias

Experts have deemed the regional venture capital industry as “fundamentally biased against women” as new data shows female startups and entrepreneurs secured just 0.1 percent of the $105 million of the available Middle East funding pot last month. In a bid to equalise gender opportunities, the UAE recently mandated that all listed companies must have […]

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China to promote fiscal, monetary policies to support labour market

China will focus on creating jobs and promote fiscal, monetary and industrial policies to stabilise its labour market, Li Zhong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said on Thursday. As the Chinese economy struggles to recover from a COVID-induced slump, the youth unemployment rate has surged to a record high […]

Kuwait laying off 750,000 Egyptian workers

Kuwait has announced it will lay off 250,000 Egyptian workers next month and suspend all contracts with non-nationals. Some 500,000 further Egyptian workers will lose their jobs over the next year as the Gulf country seeks to remove all expatriate workers across sectors, according to Middle East Monitor. Egyptians make up around 24 per cent […]

Indian workers return to Gulf in their droves

The demand for skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled Indian workers has increased “drastically” as a rebound in Gulf economic growth signals the end of the coronavirus-induced reverse migration of workers from the region. An increase of nearly 50 percent in fresh migration to the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members – including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, […]

Sri Lankans flee crisis in mass brain drain as turmoil worsens

Shamla Yoosoof, an investment researcher from Colombo, left Sri Lanka with her three-year-old son and a jam-packed suitcase, swapping economic chaos at home for a new start in Dubai. She flew out in June to join her husband who had secured a job as a sales and marketing director there weeks before – one of […]

Big increase in UAE-based private sector employees

The number of UAE-based private sector employees increased by nine percent in Q2, 2022, compared to the same period last year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) said in its private sector workforce report. The number of registered private sector employees reached 5.37 million by Q2 2022. Khalil Al Khoori, acting under-secretary for […]

Qatar ramps up recruitment drive ahead of World Cup

With just over 100 days until the start of the tournament, the World Cup Qatar 2022 is looking to hire thousands of temporary workers to help stage the Middle East’s largest ever sports event. Regional competition for talent remains high, but Qatar has so far resisted offering inflated salaries to lure cross-border workers. French hotel […]

Dubai workers return to office in their droves as rents rise

Four in every five professionals in Dubai have returned to the office as Covid restrictions ease. The return is one of the highest rates across the Middle East and Europe. New research from real estate consultants Savills shows there is significant geographic variation in office utilisation levels. An average of 80 percent of workers are […]

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Think women make bad bosses? Think again, says Visa senior VP

Is a man better at running a business than a woman? The Visa Entrepreneur Study, commissioned by the global payments giant, found that nearly four in 10 (38 percent) of male business owners surveyed in the UAE believed men have better business instincts than women. Furthermore, 34 percent said businesses founded by women couldn’t compete […]

Tech workers reap big salaries amid urgent skill shortage

Dubai-based software engineers can earn up to 30 percent more than similar workers in rival tech hubs in Europe, due to an ongoing skills shortage within the sector across the Middle East. Amanda Line, a partner at global consultancy firm PwC, said that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region needs to create 300 […]