Dubai, Abu Dhabi Need 150,000 Jobs to Fill Homes, Nomura Says

Dubai and Abu Dhabi need to create about 150,000 white-collar jobs to provide enough buyers for the houses and apartments being completed in the next two years, Nomura Holdings Inc. said.

An estimated 65,000 residential units will be built in Dubai and 15,000 more in Abu Dhabi by 2011, even as the number of foreign workers declines, Chet Riley, a Dubai-based analyst at Nomura, said in a note to clients today.

“We estimate around 100,000 white-collar jobs at least would need to be created in Dubai and 50,000 in Abu Dhabi alone to satisfy oncoming supply,” Riley said in the note. “This is in an environment where jobs (still real estate and construction related) are being cut.”