UAE: Total labour force in the private sector by economic activity (2017)
| Economic sector | 2017 |
| Construction | 1,712,000 |
| Wholesale Trade and Repair Services | 1,122,000 |
| Manufacturing | 474,000 |
| Real Estate, Rental and Business Services | 594,000 |
| Transportation, Storage and Communication | 368,000 |
| Hotels and Restaurants | 236,000 |
| Community, Personal and Other Services | 154,000 |
| Educational Services and Studies | 88,000 |
| Financial Intermediation | 71,000 |
| Others | 220,000 |
| Total | 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.