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- Dubai 04:05 05:29 12:18 15:42 19:02 20:26
Expat workers visit the Ministry of Labor during an open day in Abu Dhabi. (FILE)
The number of foreign workers in the UAE stood at 3.8 million in 2010, the Labour Minister said on Tuesday.
A rapid economic boom in the Gulf state led to more than doubling the number of foreign workers from 1.8 million in 2001 to four million in the peak year of 2007 before it dropped to 3.8 million by 2010.
The minister, Saqr Ghobash, said the country is aiming to reduce the number of unskilled foreign workers.
"The trend is to reduce the number of unskilled workers," he said, putting the number of workers with no qualifications at around two million, compared with around 266,000 foreign workers who have university degrees.
Ghobash also said the authorities aimed to create jobs for the growing number of UAE nationals joining the workforce, adding that "some 200,000 Emiratis will enter the market in the coming years."
The expat-dominated UAE population was estimated to have grown to around 8.2 million by the end of 2010, with UAE nationals making only 11.47 per cent.
The country attracts workers from across the world, mainly from the Asian subcontinent, followed by the Arab world.
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