DOHA: Qatar is working to get rid of “unwanted” workforce to dilute as much as possible the negative impact of increasing influx of foreign workers due to rapid development, says a senior planning official.
Plans are afoot to raise awareness among families and help reduce their dependence on domestic help. “We plan to repatriate unwanted workers, especially domestic helpers, and change social trends and lifestyles of people who require more helpers for homes and in the service sector,” Dr Saleh Mohamed Al Nabit, Secretary-General of the General Secretariat for Development Planning (GSDP) told Al Watan daily in an interview.
The plan is to focus on recruiting skilled workers, specialists, experienced employees and professionals to meet growing demands of the local job market, he added. The plan to crack down on bogus companies trading in work visas will continue to curb the unwanted workforce.
Increasing contributions of citizens to the economic activities of the country could balance the local jobs market. Training citizens to handle all types of jobs in the country is also part of the plan to help reduce dependence on foreign workforce, said Al Nabit.
Very few Qatari students are choosing technical and specialisation courses despite the local jobs market having a large number of vacancies for specialists and technical experts, he added.
Higher studies should be upgraded according to the current and future requirements of the jobs market. To a question about the huge demographical imbalance (300 males per 100 females), Al Nabit said that the policy of the country helped increase contributions of women to the jobs market from 30.1 percent in 2001 to 35.3 percent in 2011. “I hope the number of women employees will increase in the coming years.”
On women’s empowerment, he said that Qatari women had made remarkable achievements in the last few years, especially in the education sector.
The ratio of girl students in primary and secondary schools has increased and in universities women are almost double compared to men, he said. Citing 2011 statistics, he said the number of girl students reached 179 per 100 male students.
The Peninsula
