UAE government seeks to address demographic imbalance
Agence France-Presse - 18 April, 2007
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The government of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates unveiled on Tuesday a
strategy aimed at sustaining economic growth while trying to remedy the
demographic imbalance in a country where natives make up just one fifth of
the population.

The strategy features developing a "comprehensive policy" that would remedy
the imbalance in the population structure and reduce illegal and marginal
labourers, said Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed
al-Maktoum, citing mainly the drive to Emiratise jobs.

Sheikh Mohammad, who is also ruler of the regional business and tourism hub
of Dubai, was speaking in the presence of fellow rulers of the other
emirates making up the seven-member UAE federation.

But he said that education, the lynchpin of efforts to replace expatriates
by nationals in the workplace, had not given the desired outcome despite
"huge spending" on that sector, and he urged professionals to pursue
"radical" solutions.

Sheikh Mohammad said that while the UAE's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had
jumped from 261 billion dirhams (71 billion dollars) in 2002 to 599 billion
dirhams (163 billion dollars) in 2006, the greatest responsibility lies in
graduating qualified nationals to compete for opportunities in the job
market.

He said domestic helpers make up a massive 10 percent of foreign workers,
with some families outnumbered by their servants.

There are also some 300,000 foreigners working illegally in the Gulf country
and a large proportion of foreign workers involved in "marginal" activities,
he said.

The UAE had a population of 4.1 million at the end of 2005, compared with
2.4 million 10 years earlier. Emiratis, numbering some 825,000, accounted
for just 21.9 percent of the total population.

Sheikh Mohammad, whose country has been criticised by international human
rights groups for the poor working conditions of foreign labourers, said his
government planned to organise the labour market, set criteria for the
labourers' working and living conditions and increase checks to ensure that
laws are implemented and the rights of all parties preserved.