UAE And Dubai Now Pushing Massive Training Schemes For Nationals

The UAE is creating a massive, three year training and job creation scheme for Emiratis in order to reduce the state’s reliance on expat talent.

Following the announcement last September by the Dubai ruler that 20,000 jobs were to be created for Emiratis over the next three years, the UAE is now planning to train 18,000 nationals over the same period of time. Training will be offered by the UAE’s Higher Colleges of Technology and will be concentrated on the needs of the existing jobs market, with each course taking between three and six months.

According to a government spokesperson, training will be based on already available jobs formerly filled by expatriates, and will concentrate on sectors such as human resources, sales, insurance, IT, real estate and customer care. Emiratis who complete the training will be awarded certificates and advised to search the national training programme’s jobs section. The UAE initiative seems to be focusing on lower-skilled jobs, whilst Dubai’s version is aimed at professional positions in strategic sectors such as banking and finance, telecommunications and civil aviation.

Some 18,000 Dubai graduates are expected to have been trained to professional standards over the same three-year time frame, with the programme said to be costing DH300 million. At the same time, results of a recent expat survey have confirmed that major Gulf cities and the UAE became more expensive as expat destinations during 2019. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are now the most expensive as regards the cost of living and are also included in the 50 most expensive world cities listing, with Abu Dhabi seeing the most increases over the past five years.