Non-Qataris constitute 99.7 percent of the country’s private sector workforce, data made available by the Qatar Statistics Authority shows.

This is despite a 1997 Emiri decree that nationals account for 20 percent of employees at companies in the private sector.

According to industry experts, the reasons for such a poor showing are numerous: firstly, that the private sector doesn’t do enough to attract local talent; secondly, that the alternative – government jobs – are easier to get, pay better and entail shorter workdays; and finally, that there simply aren’t enough Qataris to fill the quotas that have been set.

The Peninsula reports:

According to the Statistics Authority, a vast majority of nationals (86 percent) work for government departments…

Recent salary hikes announced by the government for its employees has done more damage to the state’s job nationalisation drive, because now more and more nationals want to join the government sector, say sources.

The private sector, on its part, says there are hardly any nationals with some experience who like to take up work with private companies since the public sector “absorbs them all”.

Though Qatarization could help the country’s long-term economic security, at the moment it seems like nothing more than a pipe dream.

Thoughts?