UAE working towards parity in public-private sector

The UAE is working to reduce the differences in career incentives between the government and private sectors according to Saqr Ghobash, Minister of Labour, quoted by Emarat Al Youm newspaper.

He asserted that the government is promoting the participation of Emiratis in the private sector to meet the numbers expected to enter the labour market within the next two decades.

He added that initiatives and studies are being developed in order to reach the best formula so as to achieve the goal through broad community participation.

Ghobash confirmed that the ministry is currently developing a policy to improve and increase the salaries of the UAE citizens in the private sector.

He pointed to what was said by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, that the government sector wages are at least three times higher than in the private sector.

This means there are substantial differences between the two sectors, and without a radical change, the private sector will not be attractive to the Emiratis.

Ghobash pointed out that the proposal of the ministry is to intervene by determining the minimum pay which is recommended by the World Bank and McKenzie studies.

“This intervention can take two forms - either specify a minimum wage without any government support to the private sector which means that the private sector will be the only body to bear the costs of increased wages for targeted jobs.

The second suggestion is to determine the minimum wage but with government support in order to increase the turnout of job seekers on the private sector.

“The ministry has concluded that the most appropriate way is to provide support for a period of about two years and after that the employers themselves will take their responsibilities,” said Ghobash.

Meanwhile, job security provided by the government sector contributes to the reluctance of citizens to work in the private sector. The ministry proposes to address this issue through submitting a kind of unemployment insurance which is different from unemployment allowance.