The total labour force in the UAE in 2018 was 7.384 million. The total number of people employed was 7.219 million. People working in wholesale and retail trade sector were paid the highest compensation of AED 62,857 million followed by those in the construction and building sector who drew AED 52,959 million as wages.
According to the Annual Economic Report 2019 (PDF, 18.5 MB), the total labour force in the UAE in 2018 was 7.384 million.
The number of people working in all economic sectors of the country reduced from 7.241 million in 2017 to 7.219 in 2018, a decline of 0.3 per cent.
The rate of unemployment decreased from 2.5 per cent in 2017 to 2.2 per cent in 2018.
Here are the sectors by percentage of wages earned by the UAE's workforce during the years 2017 and 2018 (of the total wages):
Annual economic reports from the Ministry of Economy
Here are the top five sectors by percentage of employees hired during the year 2016 (of the total workforce):
| Sector | Per cent |
|---|---|
| Extractive industries | 31 |
| Public administration and defence | 13 |
| Wholesale and retail trade and repair | 09 |
| Construction and building | 08 |
| Transformative industries | 07 |
| Total | 68 |
Source: The Annual Economic Report 2017 - Ministry of Economy
The table below states the percentage of male and female employees in public, private and other sectors in the UAE in 2019.
|
Sector |
Emiratis |
Non-Emiratis |
Total |
||||||
|
Males |
Females |
Total |
Males |
Females |
Total |
Males |
Females |
Total |
|
|
Federal Government |
44.7% |
31.0% |
40.5% |
2.0% |
1.6% |
1.9% |
3.9% |
3.4% |
3.8% |
|
Local government |
36.7% |
40.0% |
37.7% |
5.2% |
3.7% |
4.9% |
6.6% |
6.0% |
6.5% |
|
Private Sector |
6.5% |
11.4% |
8.0% |
82.4% |
46.4% |
73.9% |
79.1% |
44.3% |
70.7% |
|
Shared |
10.0% |
16.0% |
11.9% |
4.4% |
3.7% |
4.2% |
4.6% |
4.5% |
4.6% |
|
Foreign |
0.2% |
0.6% |
0.3% |
1.1% |
1.4% |
1.1% |
1.0% |
1.3% |
1.1% |
|
Diplomatic Authority |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.1% |
0.0% |
0.1% |
0.1% |
0.0% |
0.1% |
|
Non-profit Organisations |
0.9% |
0.5% |
0.8% |
0.2% |
0.1% |
0.2% |
0.2% |
0.1% |
0.2% |
|
Without Establishment |
0.3% |
0.0% |
0.2% |
0.2% |
0.2% |
0.2% |
0.2% |
0.1% |
0.2% |
|
Private Household |
0.0% |
0.1% |
0.0% |
4.3% |
42.8% |
13.4% |
4.1% |
40.1% |
12.7% |
|
Other |
0.1% |
0.1% |
0.1% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
0.0% |
|
Not Stated |
0.5% |
0.3% |
0.4% |
0.0% |
0.1% |
0.0% |
0.1% |
0.1% |
0.1% |
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
Source: Labour Force survey 2019 - Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre
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