Human capital in the UAE: liberalization, openness, and the role of expatriates

Lama Blaique

Chapter 10 in Augmenting National and International Human Capital, 2026, pp 167-187 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter investigates the shifting architecture of human capital in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a country where expatriate workers constitute the majority of the labour force. Based on the country's shift from an oil-based economy towards a knowledge economy as the context, the chapter provides a conceptual discussion of how liberalization, permanent residency schemes, and structurally targeted skill development appropriated the cultivation of a distinctly transnational system of labour. The discussion highlights innovations in UAE policy architecture, complex institutional foundations, and demographic balancing, but it is also sensitive to structural challenges that frame the UAE within conversational barriers of labour ‘market segmentation’ and ‘demographic sustainability’. Finally, the chapter identifies some implications for transitional economies.

Keywords: Human Capital; Emiratization; Expatriates; Liberalization; Knowledge Economy; Talent Mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035318278
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