Qatari job seekers expect higher salaries

By Nasser Al-Ghanem in Doha
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-03-15

[PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images] Qataris seek jobs that help them enjoy a higher living standard.

Qatari dailies are packed with ads seeking to hire employees. A reader can scan the pages and see tens of advertisements. Most of the ads, however, target Qatari nationals.

Usama Al-Rifaai, a Syrian who has been living in Doha for four years and who recently lost his marketing job, said that his search for a new job has been unsuccessful.

He told Al-Shorfa that "most of the ads in the daily newspapers and in the specialized advertisement directories are searching exclusively for Qataris. Some of these ads continue every day for two or three months on end without anyone responding to them to apply for the job."

The results of the Labour Force Sample Survey 2009 carried out by the Qatari Statistics Authority show that the unemployment rate of Qataris could reach 2.3 %. Economist Ali Al-Tawil said the figure is not a low percentage in a society whose total population is around 300,000 people.

Al-Tawil said in an interview with Al-Shorfa that "this rate is not due to a lack of job openings, but because Qataris are searching for specific types of jobs which offer high salaries and excellent fringe benefits."

"Some Qataris believe that Europeans or Americans working in their country are getting huge salaries which they deserve instead while they do not get similar salaries. They want to benefit from the wealth of their country, which is why they don't just accept any job offer."

At the Qatar Career Fair 2010, which will be held from March 14-18, many governmental institutions will present recent graduates with hundreds of job opportunities, which is a chance for Qatari youth to find a suitable job, according to Abdullah Al-Tibi.

Al-Tibi said, "I graduated last year, and I haven't found a job. That is why I am waiting for the Career Fair," indicating that there are good job offers at the Qatar Career Fair with acceptable benefits packages "which is why I am looking forward to it."

When asked why he hasn't found a job yet, Abdullah said that "there are many jobs available to Qataris, but they are not up to our expectations. I don't want to work in the educational sector or the media, or other fields. These are demanding jobs, and the salaries are not acceptable. I believe that securing a top-notch job in Qatar requires time."

By implementing the policy of Qatarization, the government is encouraging government institutions and businesses in the private sector to recruit Qataris. The government issued a law requiring that businesses hire Qatari nationals, so that they represent at least 10% of their workforce. Any company that fails to meet this regulation will be fined.

Undersecretary of Labour, H.E. Hussein Al-Mulla, told Qatari newspaper Al-Raya that "this law will increase the Qatarization of jobs in the private sector because Qatari personnel that have been trained and offered scholarships to study abroad will be available for these jobs."

However, Ibrahim Bin Zamil, a Qatari national and owner of a real estate company in Doha, said that "hiring Qataris is a difficult matter."

"They are qualified, and most of them hold degrees from international universities, but the problem is that some companies cannot afford to satisfy the demands of Qatari job seekers because they don't find the salaries offered by the companies acceptable, and consequently they avoid us," he said.

The average income of Qataris is the highest in the Arab region and fourth in the world, according to a report by the World Bank published in 2009. The average income of a Qatari citizen is $58,000 per year.

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