Gulf governments' workforce localization efforts will help reduce budgetary burdens and support economic diversification, but they will also increase business costs and potentially reduce productivity due to skill mismatches. Over time, they will fuel regional competition and open the door to greater private sector unemployment in a future economic downturn. In April, several Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries took additional steps to increase the number of local citizens, rather than foreigners, employed in the private sector, especially in high-skilled jobs. For example, on April 6, the United Arab Emirates' Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced that the mandate of the Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council, or Nafis, whose goal is to increase Emirati participation in the private sector, would be extended from August 2026 to 2040. Then, on April 15, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Social Affairs announced that it had begun final interviews for the second phase of...
