Increase in labour court cases

The number of cases heard in labour court over the past six months has almost tripled from the same period last year, officials say, reflecting the dour economic climate.

More than 2,658 cases have been filed with the court in the first half of this year, compared with 940 cases in the first half of 2008. Lawyers say they have seen a massive rise in cases as companies make redundant huge swathes of the workforce.

In the last quarter of 2008, an estimated 3,400 jobs were lost in Dubai, the majority of them in construction and property companies that had scaled down or cancelled projects.