DUBAI: To escape from the ugly reality of unemployment, hundreds of immigrants come to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) annually, as this country has traditionally been the expatriate job seeker’s El Dorado.

But once they reach here, they often fail to realize their dreams of an ideal career. In their struggle to survive, they end up making choices that find them enmeshed in a whirlpool of low wages, gripping debts and lonely lives.

As many as 85 per cent of the 3.1 million people in the United Arab Emirates are foreigners. Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Indians, Iranians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans account for the bulk of foreign workers.

An increasing number of unemployed educated nationals, backed by a strong ‘emiratization’ drive, is fast shutting the door on many a lucrative job for the foreign worker population.

The government is also asking the private sector to hire more Emiratis to ensure that the estimated 200,000 young people entering the work force by 2006 have jobs.

Take the French supermarket chain, Carrefour, here for instance. Until a few months back, most of its UAE employees were either from the subcontinent or from the Philippines. Today, almost the entire staff during the morning shifts are locals and expatriates are forced to settle for late night shifts or opt for menial tasks.

“I came here to work as an accountant,” said Manoj Abraham, a counter salesman at the supermarket’s outlet in Sharjah, one of the seven emirates, in an interview. “But here I am working at the cash register from five in the evening till midnight.”

“I’m a post-graduate in commerce from India, but after spending all my father’s savings on getting my visa, I cannot afford to go back. After a futile search for a suitable job, I opted to take this one and here too I have to work nights as the day shift is now for nationals,” he explained.

Unemployment is on the rise all over the Arab world. According to recent statistics, nearly 14 million people — or 15 per cent of the 90 million Arab work force — are unemployed.

By 2010, the total Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) population is estimated to reach 39.4 million from 25 million in 1995. There will be another eight million jobseekers in 15 years’ time and 533,000 jobs will be have to be created annually to meet demand.

Thus, Gulf governments are pulling out all the stops to make expatriate hiring unattractive. Recruitment taxes levied on expatriates have been raised.

In Saudi Arabia, annual fees for foreigners’ residency and work permits have gone up 25 per cent. Earlier this year, the Saudi labour ministry has decided to impose a 25 per cent increase on the hiring of nationals in private companies that employ more than 20 people, and has set up a manpower fund to help private companies train and employ young graduates.

Similarly the UAE government is evaluating ways to create jobs for as many as 200,000 nationals over the next five years. It has set up the National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia) to help them get top and lucrative jobs.

Renita Fernandez is a qualified nurse and was brought to Dubai, another emirate, by a Sudanese, who promised to get her into one of the hospitals if she passed the local examination, which she did within two months.

But, today, she is a domestic worker, moving from one household to another to earn her keep as her sponsor washed his hands off her.

“I have ailing parents, an unemployed husband and a young son back home — what I earn here is just enough for their upkeep,” she said miserably during an interview. “I get extremely depressed and lonely — many a time I even think of ending my life. But I can’t. Too many mouths to feed,” she added.

Sheer desperation, staggering debts back home, family commitments and fear of unemployment are some of the reasons that govern these career choices.

It does not help that many foreign workers have reached here either through agents or touts after paying astronomical sums of money, which increases the chances of their settling for less in terms of a career, irrespective of its suitability to their qualifications or the low wages.

It also condemns them to living away from their loved ones, since their salaries do not meet the levels stipulated by the government that make them eligible for family visas.

Maria Luisa is a Filipino physician, but works as an attendant in a medical store. “I came here two years back on my husband’s visa. Disheartened by the low salaries that private clinics were offering and the lack of vacancies, I took up this post. At least it gives me something to do,” she said.

Then there is Veena, who trained in India to be a medical transcriptionist, but works as a counter supervisor at a local hospital. Likewise, Sultan Ahmed from Pakistan, with a doctorate in Arabic, works as a library assistant in a publishing firm. Ligia from Sri Lanka has a post-graduate degree in computer applications but is now a secretary in a research organisation. The list is endless.

“Many of these expatriates rush into the country without really ensuring the conditions,” said a source at the Labour Department in an interview. “They think getting a visa is enough to land the job of their dreams. But soon their hopes get crushed and they have to accept whatever they are offered. It’s a question of survival.”

Indeed Dr Maria Luisa says there are doctors getting paid a $500 salary in private clinics around the country.

“Some of them don’t even receive a salary — they are eligible only for commissions or percentages. One such doctor, having seen only around 14 patients in a month, received only $200 as commission,” she explained.

At present, the ratio between expatriates and UAE nationals is three is to one. It is inevitable, therefore, that there will be pressure to reduce the number of foreign workers in the business establishments and manufacturing units and replace them with locals.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.