The United Arab Emirates is introducing labor reforms that aim to tighten oversight of employment agreements for the millions of temporary migrant workers that comprise the bulk of the country’s workforce, a top Emirati official said on Tuesday.
The reforms are being implemented through three government decrees that will take effect on Jan. 1, Minister of Labor Saqr Ghobash told journalists in the federal capital, Abu Dhabi.
They focus on improving transparency of job terms and employment contracts, spell out how contracts can be broken and could make it easier for workers to switch employers.
The seven-state Emirates federation is home to millions of migrant laborers, many of them from South Asia and the Philippines. At 2.6 million strong, Indians alone far outnumber the local population.
