It is a known fact, there are more expats than citizens in the UAE. For the past 7 years, however, the UAE Government has pushed for more Emiratis to be hired, especially within the private sector, than expatriates. How has this move changed the dynamics for expats?
Although there is a lack of official figures from the government of the UAE, one can say that there has been a stabilization in the growth in the number of expatriates over the last few years. Indeed, from 2010 to 2013, expatriate population went from 42.7% to 84.7%, according to the figures published by the University of Cambridge as part of a research on the socio-economic impact of immigration in countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In just three years, the expatriate population had doubled. Ever since 2013, however, there has been a more constant growth in the number of expatriates settling down in the UAE. In fact, from 2013 to 2018, this figure rose to 88.52%, an increase of just under 4% in five years. What has caused such a deceleration?
According to Tang, a pakistani expatriate in the UAE, emiratisation is not to be blamed. “One needs to understand that companies operating in the free zone hire the most expatriates and that the free zone is not governed by the same set of rules than the mainstream private sector. As such, the free zone is not affected by emiratisation”, says Tang. However, he does explain that expat employment within the mainstream private sector has indeed diminished. Actually, Tang acknowledges that expats have been laid off in the private sector. “But at the same time, the huge business growth in the free zones, as companies set up regional hubs has also boosted demand”, says Tang, pertaining the extent to which emiratisation could have been a problem for expat employment in the UAE.
If emiratisation is not the cause of the slowed down growth in the number of expats in the UAE, according to expats living there, other factors are to blame. In a piece featured by the BBC last December, the British online website places the falling oil prices at the heart of a stabilisation in economic growth and in turn, in the number of jobs for expatriates. Hays, a recruitment agency operating in the Middle East has found in their 2018 Salary and Employment Report that a third of companies operating in the UAE reported they would be reducing their headcount.
Not only does the economic growth means less jobs for expats, economic conditions also mean that the UAE is less and less attractive to expatriates. One must note that is it economic strength and political stability meaning better salaries and overall quality of life that has been drawing expatriates to the UAE. “The gap is in the pay that is being offered nowadays vs what was offered a few years ago”, says Tang.
