Labour force
2004	2,013,523
2005	2,242,376
2006	2,567,349
2007	3,113,022
2008	4,079,453
2009	4,072,315
2010	3,880,494
2011	3,906,594
2012	4,044,364
2013	4,051,233
2014	4,444,500
2015	4,744,624
2016	4,889,853
2017	5,039,000

Source: Labour Market Information System, Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE)
 
 
ANNEXED NOTE
 
 1. Characteristics of data

The figures pertain to the number of workers registered in the UAE’s private sector, with the MoHRE.
The “labour force” includes all economically active individuals in the community, whether they are already working or looking for work (see: https://www.mohre.gov.ae/en/media-center/definitions.aspx)

Employed persons: Individuals who are already engaged in productive work: it includes individual who are employed, even if they do not work because of illness or injury,
holiday or for irregular work at the facilities in which they work for temporary or incidental reasons. This category also includes full-time and part-time workers.
Unemployed: Individuals who are able to work and wishing to do so, were still searching jobs during the survey. This category includes the unemployed who never entered the labour market,
and who have previously worked and had to leave their jobs for any reason as a result of labour market conditions.

It is unclear whether or not figures include nationals.
Domestic workers are not included.

2. Institution which provides data 

Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE): http://www.mohre.gov.ae/en/home.aspx

3. Data availability 

The data is taken from the “open data” section of MoHRE website:
http://www.mohre.gov.ae/en/data-library.aspx
Data is available in PDF and Excel formats.

Last date of access: June 2018.

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