Tuesday 24 March 2009

UAE may rue its exodus of expatriates

In the United Arab Emirates, a deluge of foreign professionals has underpinned rapid economic growth. But as job cuts mount, analysts warn that the federation’s open and flexible labour market could backfire.

A swathe of job losses in real estate, financial services and tourism is leading to an exodus. The UAE’s labour and immigration laws allow for easy corporate cuts, but force expatriates who lose their jobs to find new employment within a month – or leave.

This has turned unemployment into emigration, and economists say the population of the UAE – one of the most lopsided and expatriate-driven economies in the world – could decline over the next two years.

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