DOHA: Notwithstanding the government’s thrust on pushing nationals in private jobs, the state continues to be a major employer of Qataris.
Official figures suggest that nearly 30,000 Qataris have been absorbed in jobs in the past six years — 75 percent of them in the government sector.
The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs said yesterday that of the 29,788 citizens who entered the job market between 2007 and 2013, 22,505 were absorbed in state jobs.
“The state sector, thus, accounted for 75 percent of the jobs provided to nationals in the above period,” H E Abdullah Saleh Mubarak Al Khulaifi said.
Addressing an event on Qatar’s Population Day, he said more than half (53 percent) of the 30,000 nationals who were provided with employment were women.
He said data made available by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics based on a survey conducted in the second quarter of 2013 reveal that the rate of joblessness among nationals was negligibly low at 0.3 percent.
“This is the lowest unemployment rate in the world,” said Al Khulaifi.
He said that as part of a five-year (2011-15) strategy to increase the participation of Qataris in the job market, bigger private companies have been asked to absorb locals in leadership positions and jobs that require specialisations.
The Minister, however, hinted that no force was being applied on these companies as they needed to keep their human resource requirements in mind while hiring staff.
One of the challenges facing the job nationalisation drive in the private sector is a huge disparity between pay and perks in this and the public sector.
“Our aim, therefore, is to see this gap between the private and state sectors narrowed down,” said the Minister talking about pay packages for Qataris.
“We are also encouraging more and more women to take up private jobs.”
The other challenge in pushing citizens into private employment is that they need to be encouraged to pursue higher and technical education, said Al Khulaifi.
The Ministry is now working to implement the above strategies in all earnest and as per a timeframe, added Al Khulaifi.
The Peninsula
