Dubai’s unemployment rate reached 0.5 percent last year, while the economic participation rate as a percentage of total working-age population reached 83.2 percent, according to official figures.

The Labour Force Survey 2018 published by Dubai Statistics Centre also showed the unemployment rate among Emiratis increased from 2.9 percent in 2016 to 4 percent in 2018.

Among expats, the rate remained below 0.5 percent in Dubai with males (0.2 percent) and females (1 percent), with Arif Al Mehairi, executive director of Dubai Statistics Centre attributing the low rates to the UAE's policies, which grant residency visas to employees, investors, students and persons of equivalent status with the condition that persons of working-age will not be allowed to stay in the UAE without a job.

Al Mehairi said: “The results of the Labour Force Survey 2018 illustrate the flexibility and strength of Dubai’s economy as it continues to record the lowest rates of unemployment in the world and one of the highest rates in economic participation.”

The survey use a representative sample of 3,000 households in Dubai including 1,500 Emirati households and 1,500 non-Emirati households.

The survey results showed that half of the Emiratis of working-age are involved actively in economic activities. Emirati males had a higher economic participation rate of 62.6 percent while the corresponding figure for Emirati females was 36.5 percent.

According to the survey, 2,242,363 people were employed last year out of which 81.3 percent were males while 18.7 percent were females.

The number of Emiratis employed and residing in Dubai went up by the end of 2018 to 82,630 compared to 75,856 by the end of 2016, which marks an increase of 6,774 employed Emiratis over the past three years, and an increase of employed Emiratis by 8.9 percent in 2018 compared to 2016.

Al Mehairi indicated that the total unemployed persons residing in Dubai was 10,468 in 2018, up 2,893 from 2016 to 2018.