The Employment Policy in the UAE: Emiratization or a Quota System

2361 Words5 Pages

Emiratization is the prevalent topic currently in the UAE’s economic forums and even the everyday life of the Emiratis. The UAE symbolizes an example of how the rapid economic expansion is affecting the natives alongside the economic structure and evidently the fiscal policies. These changes are noticeably manifested in the UAE’s dramatic increase of expatriates inflowing to work in its lucrative market. Conversely, the rapid growth of the UAE’s expatriates ended up reducing the Emiratis to being a minority ethnic group in their own land – a Middle Eastern version of the Red Indians, as some might argue. Subsequently, this has resulted in a radical approach to solve this rising problem through a policy of localization to empower the Emiratis in the emerging combative market and especially the expatriates dominated private sector. This essay will reveal the origins of the current economic situation of the UAE and attempt to validate that Emiratization policy is becoming solely a quota system not an effective solution.

In 1968, Britain announced that it was withdrawing from the region. The seven emirates then had a total population of 180,000, scattered over 90, 6000 square kilometers of desert and mountain (Fairservice, 2001). Historically, the seven emirates were autonomous sheikhdoms until they were united as the UAE in 1971 (Gallant, 2008).

UAE is one of the dynamic trading hubs in the Persian Gulf. However, the economic development since the discovery of oil in 1966 has been remarkable. Before the oil boom, people in UAE survived through fishing, pearling and limited trading. The growth that this transformation brought has enabled the swift progress, which assisted a large non-oil economy. Industrialization and tourism are gr...

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This article is about the UAE’s policy of Emiratization and wither it is a mere quota system or the effective solution for the unemployment growing rate. I will present some the article arguments and I will discuss them further in the essay.

Terterov, M. (2006). Doing business with the United Arab Emirates. GMB Publishing Ltd.

This book represents an official guide for businessmen on how to do business in the UAE. I will use this book to present the official views on localization policy.

Wright, S. M., & Anoushiravan, E. (2008). Reform in the Middle East oil monarchies. Ithaca Press.

This book address many important questions such as should the West be seeking to encourage national indigenous evolution rather than working to impose Western systems? I will represent this book view on the Emiratization policy and its impact on the economic growth of the UAE.

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