UAE created 660,000 jobs in just six months

The UAE economy has created in excess of 660,000 jobs in just six months and this shows the global financial turbulence has had little impact on the country's labour market, the Acting Director of the Ministry of Labour said.

Humaid bin Dimas said about 405,000 jobs had also been cancelled between October and March, far lower than the new jobs created in the same period.

"When we talk about the global crisis and whether if it has affected the labour market in the UAE and other GCC countries, I say yes because we are part of the global economy and Dubai and the UAE are part of the global system," Dimas told the Qatari Aljazeera satellite TV channel.

"This is natural that we are affected by this crisis but I can tell you the impact is limited... our figures show that more than 662,000 new jobs have been created in the UAE between October and March while around 405,000 jobs have been cancelled in the same period... this means there is an increase in jobs by an average 43,000 per month during this six-month period."

According to a recent survey conducted by Emirates Business, the UAE has emerged as the largest job generator in the GCC, accounting for almost 50 per cent of the total new jobs.

The UAE is the second largest economy in the GCC and the Arab World after Saudi Arabia, with its gross domestic product peaking at Dh929.4 billion in 2008. It also has the second highest per capita income of Dh170,000 after Qatar.