Hostile job market for young Emirati graduates
▶ FNC member calls attention to increasing complaints by nationals
Thousands of Emirati graduates are unable to secure jobs, often being told they are either over or underqualified, members of the Federal National Council heard.
Ras Al Khaimah representative Salem Al Shehhi said he had received complaints from “thousands of Emiratis” unable to find jobs.
“When a master’s graduate applies for a job they tell him, ‘we want someone who only has a bachelor’s degree’,” Mr Al Shehhi said.
“And when a university graduate applies they tell him ‘we wish you had only a high school degree’.”
He told Tuesday’s FNC session that government ministries recruit only if an employee dies, retires or resigns, “and this is the vision of the authorities until 2021”.
“So what was the point of studying? There are thousands of graduates, where can they go?” Mr Al Shehhi asked.
The most recent unemployment figures for Emiratis are several years old, and members yesterday said the most up-to-date figures they were handed were from 2011, when unemployment among UAE nationals was 13 per cent.
“We have to make it clear that the hardest issue we face is when a local says he wants a job, wants to settle and get married, but it turns out to be his biggest challenge in life,” Mr Al Shehhi told representatives from the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources.
Ahmad Al Falasi, the head of the authority, disputed that: “There will be more than 7,685 job vacancies next year.”
“The role of the authority is to support and preserve jobs for thousands of nationals in federal governments,” he said. “When I became Minister of Higher Education we had the highest percentage of vacancies at the ministry.”
Mr Al Shehhi said the minister’s reply would not satisfy the people he represented.
“Today we already have thousands of jobless Emiratis, imagine how many we will have by 2021,” he said.
Figures presented by an FNC committee showed that last year 8,000 non-Emirati employees (10 per cent of the total expatriate workforce), filled administrative and financial posts in the federal government.
Members said those jobs could have been filled by UAE nationals.
FNC member Marwan bin Ghalita, from Dubai, questioned the accuracy of that figure, and member Saeed Al Remeithi of Abu Dhabi said the correct figure for such posts probably exceeded 30,000.
The committee report also showed that Emiratisation rates dropped in 19 federal institutions last year by 38.3 per cent.
Mr Al Shehhi said there were Emiratis with very impressive CVs “who should have been hired without even being interviewed, but unfortunately the reality is the contrary”.
Sharjah member Ayesha bin Samnoh said she had met many impressive female graduates who were stuck at home after failing to find a job.
“Every graduate tells of a tragedy, some have been graduates for one or two or three years, and they had to stay at home,” Ms bin Samnoh said.
“And they all graduated with high grades but all of the job interviews they did required experience.”
She proposed training programmes for them to get the experience required.
Mr Al Falasi replied: “The authority is not responsible for training nationals to enter the job market, but to recruit them in the authority we do not require that they have experience. We welcome fresh graduates.”
He said there had been a suggestion to create a fund that trains Emiratis through the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, “and many jobs at the federal government do not require experience”.
The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources says new graduates don’t need experience for jobs there