United Arab Emirates Case Study

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In 1971, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujayrah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Qaywayn declared their independence from Britain and formed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (“United Arab Emirates Profile”). In an effort to speed up economic growth in the country, the UAE government introduced the Kafala Sponsorship System in 1971. The Kafala system was a guest worker program that allowed individuals and firms within the UAE to hire migrant workers (Malit and Al Youha). The first wave of Indian immigration to the UAE began with the introduction of this system. A few thousand Indians migrated to the UAE in the 1970’s, but their numbers dramatically increased throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s (Zachariah et. al). As of 2013, over 2.8 million Indian immigrants resided …show more content…

This is because the number of jobs the UAE has vacant far exceeds the native Emirati population, and the Emiratis’ skill level does not match the skill level that is demanded (Desjardins). Generally speaking, Emiratis possess a higher level skill set; the jobs that are available are low-skilled jobs (Desjardins). Since immigrants and Emiratis possess different skill sets which lead to employment in different sectors of the economy, these two groups have not been in competition with each other. However, this is beginning to change. Recently, the UAE government has struggled to guarantee employment to their high-skilled workforce because the public sector has been fully staffed (Suter). This has caused the Emiratis to compete with the immigrants in the job market and has resulted in the UAE’s first wave of involuntary unemployment (Suter). Since immigrants will often work for lower wages than Emiratis, the Emirati population has a higher rate of unemployment than the immigrant population (Gallacher). Additionally, the UAE’s population is rather young, 51% of the population is under 20, which means that involuntary unemployment will only grow larger as the population ages (Gallacher). The Emirati workforce is expected to increase to 500,000 by 2020, compelling the government to create more jobs …show more content…

In 2012, India contributed 5.8% of total foreign direct investment in the UAE, making them the second top foreign investor (“United Arab Emirates”). Additionally, Indians are one of the UAE’s top investors in real estate. In 2015, Indians invested 18.12 billion dirhams in UAE real estate (“What Makes Indian”). Foreign direct investments in the UAE have played a vital role in keeping the economy stable in times of market fluctuations. Consequently, GDP rose 4.6% in 2014 (John “UAE Draws”). Although it is hard to say how much of this GDP increase is directly due to India or Indian immigrants, we can infer that they caused a large portion of it since they are the second top foreign investor in the

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