Dubai unemployment rate increases slightly in 2017

Dubai saw a slight increase in unemployment among both its Emirati and overall workforce last year, according to Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC) figures.

The organisation said unemployment among UAE citizens reached 3.4 per cent in 2017 from 2.9 per cent in 2016 and 2.8 per cent in 2015.

This followed a 0.6 per cent increase in male unemployment to 2.6 per cent and a 0.5 per cent increase in female unemployment to 4.9 per cent.

Unemployment as a whole, including the emirate’s foreign workforce, was among the lowest in the world at 0.5 per cent, but still up on 2016’s 0.4 per cent and 2015’s 0.3 per cent.

The total number of unemployed Emiratis in Dubai rose to 2,851 people, while the overall unemployed workforce was 10,047 people.

DSC recorded 2,778,000 people employed in the emirate last year, out of which the resident workforce numbered 2,077,603 and non-resident workforce (those residing outside Dubai) totalled more than 700,000.

Over the last three years, Dubai’s labour market has added an average of 110,000 people annually to its resident workforce, DSC executive director Arif Al Muhairi confirmed, without giving specific 2017 figures.

The survey found that the overall economic participation rate (percentage of employed people in the total working-age population) increased to 83.1 per cent in 2017 from 82.2 per cent in 2016.

Female workers accounted for the largest share of that increase, rising to 53.6 per cent in 2017, compared to 49.3 per cent the previous year.

Emirati men had an economic participation rate of 65.4 per cent with the rate for women standing at 37.4 per cent, the survey found.

Looking at the overall composition of the workforce, 13.3 per cent come under the category of specialists; technicians and associate professionals make up 11.3 per cent; and 9.3 per cent belong to the categories of legislators, senior officials and managers.

In terms of sectors, 27.6 per cent work in the construction sector, 17.9 per cent in the wholesale and retail trade sector and 8 per cent in manufacturing.

The labour force survey was based on a representative sample of 3,000 households in Dubai. The sample included 1,500 Emirati households and 1,500 non-Emirati households. A sample of 1,000 workers from labour camps also participated in the survey.