Economist.com Cities Guide: Dubai Briefing - July 2006

News this month

Unequal opportunities

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has given all companies operating in the country—excluding small businesses and those in the “free zones” such as Dubai International Finance Centre and Dubai Media City—18 months to remove expatriates employed as secretaries or human-resource managers. This is the government’s boldest move yet in its policy of “Emiratisation”, the process of replacing expatriates with native workers. Until now such rules applied only to the banking sector, in which UAE nationals must make up around 40% of the workforce—the quota varies from bank to bank. (This sector was chosen once government research had found that Emiratis saw jobs in banking as the most prestigious, after those in government.) Now the government is shifting its efforts from sectors to particular jobs. By targeting human-resource managers, the government clearly hopes that Emiratis in these roles will hire more Emiratis. But many companies are furious with the policy, and some may move to the expensive “free zones” to evade it.

In theory, Emiratis should have not problem finding work. They make up under one-fifth of the UAE’s estimated 3.2m population, and the country's economy is predicted to grow by 10.5% in 2006, so there are plenty of new jobs—particularly in Dubai, a regional hub for service industries such as banking, tourism and media. In practice, though, it is a challenge: even Emirati firms prefer hiring expatriates from Asia and Europe, who are seen as cheaper, better qualified and harder working. Emiratis themselves often prefer to work in the public sector, where hours are shorter, salaries higher and conditions less stressful.

Cracking down

As part of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) effort to polish its human-rights record, a bill to fight human trafficking moved forward in July. A panel of ministers, led by Mohammad bin Nakhira al-Dhaheri, the justice minister, approved a bill laying out harsh punishment for human trafficking. The draft law is broad in scope, criminalising organisers, accomplices and anyone who conceals an offender or victim in matters such as forced labour and sexual exploitation. The most serious perpetrators could be sentenced to life in prison. The bill, which must still be approved by the cabinet, also calls for a new committee dedicated to fighting human trafficking.

The crackdown comes just one month after America’s State Department released its annual “Trafficking in Persons” report, which found that while the UAE has made “significant efforts” to fight the problem, the area remains a hub for exploitation. The bill is only the most recent sign of the UAE’s zeal to improve its image abroad as it cultivates its role as a regional business hub. Last summer the UAE banned the use of children in camel racing—previously children as young as five had been shipped from Asia and Africa to be jockeys—and established a compulsory mid-day break for workers in the hot summer months.

Price sensitive

Dubai has shot up a cost-of-living ranking of the world’s leading cities. The recent survey of 144 cities by Mercer Human Resources Consulting ranked Dubai as the 25th-most-expensive city, a big leap upwards from 73rd place in 2005. Rising rents are the main culprit: the cost of leasing a flat has roughly doubled in the past two years, with thousands of expatriate workers and their families arriving to fuel Dubai's booming economy.

The rent increases have sparked concern that Dubai could lose its competitive edge to local rivals such as Bahrain, or to Indian cities such as Bangalore, a mere two hours' flight away. Developers say the construction of hundreds of thousands of new flats by 2008 should ease inflation, but for Dubai that may come too late. The 2006 “Cost of Living Dubai” survey, published by Kershaw Leonard, a local recruitment firm, found that 48% of Dubai-based firms have considered relocating some or all of their business overseas in response to rising prices.

Publish and be damned

Andrew Neil, a former editor of Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper, has announced plans to launch a daily business newspaper in Dubai. It will be edited by Frank Kane, a former business editor of the Observer, and published by ITP, a Dubai-based firm run mainly by British expatriates. Mr Kane has pledged to raise journalistic standards in the region——business journalism currently involves little more than publishing press releases and cushy profiles of company executives.

Changing this culture will be hard. First, the government is the region's biggest business and has a history of censorship (the UAE ranks 100th in the annual index of press freedom published by Reporters Without Borders). Second, the press in the Gulf is shackled by its reliance on advertising revenue. This is true of media business elsewhere, but Gulf companies tend to be particularly ruthless in pulling campaigns from titles that are even vaguely critical of them. ITP sparked controversy in 2001 when it launched Time Out Dubai, the first magazine to publish genuinely critical restaurant reviews. Criticising important state-backed companies could create an even greater fuss.

Drugs rap

Dallas Austin, an American rap-music producer, had a lucky escape on July 4th when Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, pardoned him hours after he received a four-year prison sentence. Mr Austin had pleaded guilty in a Dubai court to bringing cocaine into the emirate. Four years is the standard term for anyone caught with illegal drugs in the UAE, but Mr Austin's lawyer argued that his client was carrying them by mistake, and never intended to consume them in the emirate. Mr Austin was arrested at Dubai International Airport on May 19th, on his way to a birthday party for Naomi Campbell, a model, at the luxury Burj Al Arab hotel.

Trump card

Not to be outdone by her ex-husband Donald, Ivana Trump has teamed up with a Dubai-based property developer to design and promote luxury flats in the region. Ivana has signed a deal with privately owned Damac Properties to promote a $150m tower block in Beirut, the booming Lebanese capital. She will help design the interiors and lend her name to the development. Last year, Mr Trump signed a similar deal with Nakheel, a rival developer, also based in Dubai.

Catch if you can

July 2006

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

August 29th-September 1st 2006

One of London's longest-running shows enjoys a short stint in Dubai this summer. This acclaimed comedy covers each of Shakespeare's 37 plays in just 97 minutes. If you fancy seeing “Othello” presented as a rap song and “Titus Andronicus” as a cooking show, plus “Hamlet” performed forwards and backwards, head to the Madinat Jumeirah resort.

Madinat Theatre, Jumeirah. Tel: +971 4 3666-550. Tickets: 135 dirhams ($37). See the hotel's website or the production's website.

More from the Dubai cultural calendar