DUBAI (13 October 2014)—Petrochemical companies in the United Arab Emirates employed 38,100 people in 2013, according to new data from the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA). The country is now the GCC’s second largest petrochemicals hubs in terms of employment, accounting for 26 percent of the Gulf’s total chemical workforce.
The UAE manufactures an estimated US$11 billion worth of chemical products, including plastic and fertilizers.
“The UAE’s petrochemical industry has steadily built a solid base of highly skilled human capital over the last few years,” said Abdulwahab Al- Sadoun, secretary general of GPCA. “While other markets in the region may have access to a larger pool of financial or human resources, the UAE has managed to create some of the highest value products in the region, earning valuable revenues for the country’s economy.”
The GPCA has estimated that the “multiplier effect” for the chemicals industry currently sits at 1:3, meaning that every 10 jobs created in the sector eventually leads to an additional 30 indirect employment opportunities in the petrochemicals supply chain.
For the UAE, direct employment, along with services that support the petrochemicals industry, led to the creation of an estimated 114,300 indirect jobs in 2013.
Meanwhile, the regional chemical industry as a whole was responsible for the direct employment of 148,900 people and indirectly created an estimated 446,800 additional jobs. Petrochemicals output from the Gulf produced up to US$102 billion worth of products, according to GPCA estimates.
“Petrochemicals is evolving into an industry that touches nearly every sector of the GCC economy, from technology, equipment manufacturing, construction and agriculture to retail and trade,” Al-Sadoun said. “On a global level, the GCC can help meet rising chemical demand, and, in the process, create new, medium- and high-skilled employment for talented GCC nationals”