Easier to get. Better pay. Shorter workdays.

And now, much longer holidays can be added to the growing number of reasons why Qataris prefer government jobs to employment in the private sector.

Government offices will take a 12-day break this Eid, closing from Aug. 16 to Aug. 27, the Emiri Diwan has announced.

Financial institutions, on the other hand, will take a five or six-day break, and speculation is that companies in the private sector will take a similar holiday.

 Gulf News reports:

The differences between the public and private sector holidays once more highlights one of the issues facing the authorities as they encourage citizens to take up jobs in non state-run institutions…

The decision in 2011 to boost salaries for government employees by 60 per cent and for the military by 120 per cent has made it all the more difficult for the private sector to lure Qatari university graduates.

But not all nationals feel discouraged about the disparity in days off.

Khalifa Saleh Haroon, who is founder of ILoveQatar.net and also employed in the private sector, told Doha News:

I guess that I’ve gotten used to the fact that the government always has longer holidays. It does make things difficult since they’re off for so long and I’ve wondered why there isn’t a standardization of holidays.

However being fair, they do get less vacation days and lower salary overall. Perhaps it balances out in the end in terms of fairness.

Still, expats comprise some 99 percent of those employed in the private sector, despite a 1997 Emiri decree that nationals account for 20 percent of that workforce.

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo courtesy of Community Roundtable