UAE cuts workweek to 4.5 days

The country seeks to attract foreign investment and compete in world markets

Are you one of those who thinks that the weekend is short-lived, that the rest days should be longer? Foreign investment and provide a better balance to the lives of workers.

The work week will start on Mondays and end on Friday at noon, they will work only 4 hours, the authorities have explained, who also detailed that the measure will be applied as of January 1, 2022.

This new rule will be applied to workers in government entities and the central bank, while the country has given the private sector the freedom to decide their own working week.

According to the country's Human Resources Minister, Abdulrahman al-Awar, companies, depending on the sector they belong to, will choose how they will apply this new law, depending on what suits and serves their business.

In this way, the United Arab Emirates becomes the first country in the world to have a longer "weekend" and a shorter "work week". In addition, it should be noted that in that country the weekend was from Friday to Saturday, now it will be from Saturday to Sunday.

Friday afternoons are dedicated to Muslim prayers, the most important day for the faithful of this religious community.

Promote investment and adapt to the modern world

The Human Resources Minister of the United Arab Emirates, said that this change is due to the fact that they want to make their country attract more foreign investment, since they want to adapt to the working days of the world market.

Through a press release, the government explained that with the launch of this new work week they want to "boost productivity, and in turn establish a balance in what is the work and personal life of workers."

In addition to this, they are working to bring their country to a better position in terms of competitiveness of the economic and business sectors, since they are guaranteeing financial and commercial fluidity, as well as economic transactions with other countries where weekends are on Saturdays and Sundays.

A growing economy

In 2019, the economy of the United Arab Emirates ranked 35th by volume of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while its public debt was 100,949 million euros, this represented a debt of 27.09% of its GDP.

Similarly, the per capita debt of the Arabian Gulf country was 10,622 euros for each inhabitant, while in 2020 it stood at 33,850 euros, and led the country to position 27 out of the 196 countries in the GDP per capita ranking.

Also, in terms of business, the United Arab Emirates ranked 11th out of the 190 countries that are part of the Doing Business ranking, which is responsible for classifying nations according to the ease of doing business they offer.