In his Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 address, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said “we are in the midst of working to elevate Dubai as a pioneering global city bursting with vibrancy and creativity. An environment where living and working is a pleasure, attracting the best minds and the most successful businesses.” Despite complaints regarding the traffic, the pace and the rising costs of life in Dubai, a quick inventory of global corporations calling Dubai their regional headquarters, a cursory glance at the Who’s Who in the local employment arena and a casual survey of employees living and working in Dubai suggest that Dubai has already succeeded on that front – magnanimously! A recent Bayt.com poll indicated that despite widely publicized cost of living increases in recent years, over 40% of expat respondents see themselves firmly ensconced and remaining in Dubai indefinitely and a further 24% do not see themselves leaving for at least 5-7 years – certainly a vote of confidence at a time when the City-State is grappling with the full weight and implications of its highly ambitious (and so far highly successful) growth strategy.
What does the plan mean for employers and job seekers?
Expect sectors of strength - tourism, transport, trade, construction, and financial services, to see further growth and development. We have already seen new growth sub-sectors emerge within these industries such as the investment banking and private equity hubs and all manner of innovations in the tourism and transport sector. Expect also to witness “the creation of new sectors with sustainable competitive edge.”
How else does this plan directly impact employers and job seekers?
Expect an increase in nationals'' participation in the workforce and society. The Plan is highly visionary and realistic in that it seeks to achieve this within the market economy framework rather than via the austere enforcement of rigid ceilings and quotas. His Highness specifically mentioned that “this will be achieved by developing national capital to become the preferred workforce in selected strategic sectors; providing nationals with the abilities necessary to cope with the rapid changes in society and increase their awareness of the role expected of them in the development of Dubai and its society.”
Expect also “an improvement in education, especially public schools, as well as measures to ensure that all nationals have access to quality education opportunities” which will directly impact the labour supply and the competitiveness of the UAE national workforce at the disposal of Dubai’s blue chip employers. Moreover, the Plan seeks to “provide equality and acceptable working conditions for Dubai''s workforce in order to attract and retain the required expertise”.
The long and short of the plan is a lot more of the splendid same. Dubai will remain a booming bastion of free market capitalism with a generous visionary government sector that fuels, leads, facilitates and where profitable channels the world-class economy. “We were in a race against time and we won” His Highness said and the firm economic foundations and realistic targets within this new plan bode for many further wins ahead. Dubai Inc. aptly named.
