As their economies continue the path of diversification, all six Gulf countries have prioritised job creation for their citizens. And while traditional government interventions have been fairly successful, recent research suggests that providing job seekers with accurate information about the best opportunities can help strengthen labour market outcomes at a modest cost.
The question of how to optimally approach the task of job creation has vexed most governments since the late 1800s. In the first half of the 20th century, in the wake of the Great Depression, the British economist John Maynard Keynes and his contemporaries espoused a suite of policies known as “macroeconomic interventions”. These include the now-familiar dyad of fiscal and monetary stimulus. The Gulf governments have used these interventions regularly, especially following sharp and unforeseen declines in oil prices.
A second set of policies that rose to prominence during the 1970s and 1980s involved structural labour market reforms. These include the reduction of regulatory barriers to hiring and firing, and recalibrating taxes to improve incentives for work and hiring. The spirit of these “neoclassical” policies is evident in the Gulf countries’ visions, leading to significant labour market deregulation over the past decade.
The third major class is known as “active labour market policies”, which are interventions that seek to improve the rate at which job seekers are matched with job openings. The career guidance offices that exist in every Gulf university are a manifestation of this approach, as are the wage subsidies that many Gulf citizens benefit from when they enter the labour market following graduation.
A recent paper by Dr Michele Belot (Cornell University) and her colleagues builds on the policy community’s considerable experience using active labour market policies by demonstrating a novel intervention that is both effective and cheap to implement. The study begins by noting that one particularly difficult problem that exists in all labour markets is pockets of job seekers stuck in “slack sectors”. These individuals are looking for work in occupations with few or dwindling vacancies per job seeker, placing them at great risk of becoming quasi-permanent job seekers.
While traditional interventions such as macroeconomic policy or wage subsidies can help in principle, the only sustainable solution is to get them to shift their focus away from the dying occupation and commit wholeheartedly to a new, growing sector. Forcibly training them in the skills required for a new sector is also unlikely to yield the preferred outcome if the job seeker is not convinced that this is the right way to go.
While traditional interventions can help in principle, the only sustainable solution is to get job seekers to shift their focus away from the dying occupation
Dr Belot and her colleagues addressed these challenges by providing job seekers in slack sectors with several important pieces of information. First, a personalised visualisation of their primary occupation’s poor prospects by comparing the number of seekers to the number of vacancies. Second, a series of alternative occupations based on common previous transitions (based on the job seeker’s CV) and in jobs that had good employment prospects.
Remarkably, this seemingly innocuous intervention resulted in the employment rate, hours worked and labour income of the job seekers increasing by about 6 per cent after 18 months. More importantly, the cost of the intervention was negligible, since it involved little more than relaying existing data through email. In contrast, traditional instruments such as fiscal policy or wage subsidies cost at least thousands of dollars for every job seeker and frequently have weak and transitory effects. This isn’t to say career and life-changing conversations don’t take place at an individual level, particularly in personalised contexts, but it would help to have a formal structure that facilitates such interactions.
In the context of Gulf labour markets, it is common to see job seekers fixating on their pursuit of a public sector job due to the security and comfort of such occupations. While opportunities do still exist in the government, in general, they are limited when compared to the demand for them expressed by job seekers. Moreover, all of the Gulf economic visions explicitly convey a desire by the state to reduce its role in the economy and to transition from a producer to a regulator, implying a long-term contraction in the size of the public sector workforce. This makes Gulf job seekers who are looking for work in the public sector potential candidates for an intervention inspired by the work of Dr Belot and her colleagues.
Naturally, the Dutch labour markets – where the study was conducted – differ considerably from those of the Gulf, affirming the need for local researchers to reproduce a homegrown version of the original study. However, even if the Gulf version ends up being half as effective as its Dutch progenitor, it would still constitute a striking success for labour market overseers.
In the meantime, the region’s job seekers would do well to heed Keynes’s famous words: “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.”
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
Key Points
- Protests against President Omar Al Bashir enter their sixth day
- Reports of President Bashir's resignation and arrests of senior government officials
Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
Most match wins on clay
Guillermo Vilas - 659
Manuel Orantes - 501
Thomas Muster - 422
Rafael Nadal - 399 *
Jose Higueras - 378
Eddie Dibbs - 370
Ilie Nastase - 338
Carlos Moya - 337
Ivan Lendl - 329
Andres Gomez - 322
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
8 traditional Jamaican dishes to try at Kingston 21
- Trench Town Rock: Jamaican-style curry goat served in a pastry basket with a carrot and potato garnish
- Rock Steady Jerk Chicken: chicken marinated for 24 hours and slow-cooked on the grill
- Mento Oxtail: flavoured oxtail stewed for five hours with herbs
- Ackee and salt fish: the national dish of Jamaica makes for a hearty breakfast
- Jamaican porridge: another breakfast favourite, can be made with peanut, cornmeal, banana and plantain
- Jamaican beef patty: a pastry with ground beef filling
- Hellshire Pon di Beach: Fresh fish with pickles
- Out of Many: traditional sweet potato pudding
Apple product price list
iPad Pro
11" - $799 (64GB)
12.9" - $999 (64GB)
MacBook Air
$1,199
Mac Mini
$799
FIGHT CARD
Welterweight Mostafa Radi (PAL) v Tohir Zhuraev (TJK)
Catchweight 75kg Leandro Martins (BRA) v Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR)
Flyweight Corinne Laframboise (CAN) v Manon Fiorot (FRA)
Featherweight Ahmed Al Darmaki (UAE) v Bogdan Kirilenko (UZB)
Lightweight Izzedine Al Derabani (JOR) v Atabek Abdimitalipov (KYG)
Featherweight Yousef Al Housani (UAE) v Mohamed Arsharq Ali (SLA)
Catchweight 69kg Jung Han-gook (KOR) v Elias Boudegzdame (ALG)
Catchweight 71kg Usman Nurmagomedov (RUS) v Jerry Kvarnstrom (FIN)
Featherweight title Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) v Alexandru Chitoran (ROU)
Lightweight title Bruno Machado (BRA) v Mike Santiago (USA)
Results
Stage 5:
1. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Team Jumbo-Visma 04:19:08
2. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:03
3. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers
4. Sergio Higuita (COL) EF Education-Nippo 00:00:05
5. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:00:06
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 17:09:26
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers 00:00:45
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:01:12
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Team Jumbo-Visma 00:01:54
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo 00:01:56
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
More coverage from the Future Forum
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: from Dh155,000
On sale: now
Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Top goalscorers in Europe
34 goals - Robert Lewandowski (68 points)
34 - Ciro Immobile (68)
31 - Cristiano Ronaldo (62)
28 - Timo Werner (56)
25 - Lionel Messi (50)
*29 - Erling Haaland (50)
23 - Romelu Lukaku (46)
23 - Jamie Vardy (46)
*NOTE: Haaland's goals for Salzburg count for 1.5 points per goal. Goals for Dortmund count for two points per goal.
Company%20Profile
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The specs: 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman
Price, base / as tested Dh222,500 / Dh296,870
Engine 2.0L, flat four-cylinder
Transmission Seven-speed PDK
Power 300hp @ 6,500rpm
Torque 380hp @ 1,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.9L / 100km
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
