5.1 million employed in UAE’s private sector by end of Q2 2019

Abu Dhabi: Positive macroeconomic developments during the first and the second quarters of 2019 reflected on the UAE labour market as employment in the private sector increased by 1.0 per cent in Q2 to 5.1 million compared to a rise of 0.1 per cent in the previous quarter, according to figures released by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.

Data provided by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation show that employees in the private sector represented about 81.5 per cent of total registered employees at the Ministry at the end of 2018 compared to 80.7 per cent at the end of 2017.

Accordingly, the total private sector employment in the UAE at the end of Q2 of 2019 reached 5.1 million, of whom 26.9 per cent are based in Abu Dhabi, 51.6 per cent are in Dubai and around 21.5 per cent in the Northern Regions.

On a Quarter-on-Quarter basis, employment grew by 0.5 per cent in 2019 Q2 compared to a 1.2 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

The rise in employment rate during Q2 was the result of the increase in the real estate sector and in other business platforms, which include the agricultural, mining, hotels and restaurants, financial intermediation, education and health.

The real estate sector and other platforms grew Year-on-Year in 2019 Q2 by 5.0 per cent and 8.2 per cent compared to a similar rise of 4.4 per cent and 4.9 per cent in the previous quarter, respectively.