December 03, 2008

UAE looking for new avenues to hire construction workers

It is reported that UAE and other Gulf countries, which are facing acute shortage of workers, are looking at countries like Bangladesh and Nepal to get laborers needed to complete mega projects worth a whopping USD 1.9 trillion. According to a study by the Project Management Institute, construction projects in the GCC planned for the next 2 years would require 5 million workers.

In the past, the majority of the semi and unskilled construction workers were from India, but the number is dwindling since construction industry in India is growing rapidly and with the increasing value of rupee against the dirham, companies are finding it difficult to convince recruits from India to take up jobs in the Gulf.

Recruitment agencies in the GCC are tapping into new labor markets, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Vietnam, in an effort to solve the problem. Recruitment of workers from Bangladesh has increased by 100 percent compared to previous years, with more workers from the country coming to the UAE during the first two months of 2008 than the whole of 2007.

Mr Majeed Al Gassab president of Bahrain Society of Engineers and also VP of the Bahrain’s PMI chapter said that the movement of workers away from the GCC has already started and immediate measures have to be put in place to retain remaining staff and find new sources for recruitment. He added that it is evident skilled workers are already moving out of the Gulf for better opportunities and it will be a great risk to carry on with inexperienced laborers.

Mr Mohammad Jindran of Sharjah based Overseas Labor Supply said that there has been a severe drop of interest from Indian construction workers. We do not like to go to India for selection anymore as we only manage to get 30% of our requirement. India and Egypt remain the major exporters of professionals to the Arab world. So the manpower shortage here could be serious with the former two countries witnessing a boom.