quite different with more than 81,000 Emiratis integrated into the private sector .
It ’ s an achievement largely driven by Emiratisation , an initiative first introduced by the UAE government in 1998 to raise representation in the workforce – and then relaunched more than a decade ago with a focus on the private sector .
But while nationalisation in UAE private business has largely lagged in the decade since , more recent efforts and policy rulings have pushed Emirati representation to record highs in 2023 – climbing almost three-fold ( 57 %) from the year before , according to the MoHRE .
This means that more than 17,000 private-sector companies now employ 81,000 UAE nationals – around 4 % of the Emirati population .
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