India is to cease granting emigration clearance to women under 30 seeking employment overseas as housemaids. The move, designed to stop the trafficking of its women for prostitution, will cover 17 countries including the United Arab Emirates.
Minister of Labour Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka’abi has announced that Dubai is to introduce a minimum wage. Yesterday he told the Gulf News, ‘This will apply initially to the construction sector, in which many hundreds of thousands of people work, and will then be expanded to cover the entire workforce.’ No implementation date or levels were disclosed.
Emirates Bank has unveiled a special banking package for expatriate workers. The ‘New to the UAE’ package is designed to provide an immediate and hassle-free banking relationship for those who are new to the UAE. Features include a current account, personal loan, credit card, car loan, and overdraft facility, as well as insurance products.
Figures released by the Dubai Statistics Centre reveal that the emirate has an unemployment rate of 2.6%, one of the lowest in the world. The Dubai Labour Force Characteristic Survey 2006 also shows that population has increased by 7% to reach 1,370,714 of which 78% are male and 22% female.
Online recruitment agency GulfTalent.com latest employment report ‘Pay, Inflation and Mobility in the Gulf’ has just been released. It reveals that rents in Dubai have risen much faster than salaries and that savings rates in the UAE are relatively low, with 43% of expatriates reporting no savings. The report concludes that these factors have failed the stem the tide of expatriates coming to find work in Dubai.
UK-based Macdonald & Company, the leading recruitment consultancy focusing solely on the property industry, has announced the opening of its first Middle East office in Dubai. The move is expected to significantly boost the company’s international presence as it looks to leverage the thriving property market in the Middle East.
A survey conducted by online recruitment agency GulfTalent.com finds that salaries in Dubai and UAE have increased by 10.3% in the year to August 2006. The main factors contributing to the increase were economic growth, rising living costs, weakness in the US dollar and a strong Indian economy.
Starting today, workers in the public sector will move from a Thursday-Friday weekend to a Friday-Saturday weekend.
Residents have known it for a while, but now its official; Dubai is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Mercer, the consulting arm of Marsh & McLennan released their annual Worldwide Cost of Living Survey today. The 2006 figures rank Dubai as the 25th most expensive city in the world, a big jump from its humble position of 73rd last year.
Rising rents, caused by an influx of expatriate workers, have been the major factor contributing to the change. However, the large number of residential developments in the pipeline should see prices fall within the next few years.
Moscow replaced Tokyo as the world’s most expensive city.
The Dubai Ministry of Labour has expanded its policy of Emiratisation and given private companies 18 months to replace their expatriate secretaries with UAE nationals. Human resources managers are also singled out, with the government hoping that Emiratis in these positions will be more inclined to hire locals. Companies in free zones, such as Dubai Media City, are exempt.