Introduction
Since the beginning of the millennium until 2008,
UAE’s expansionary economic policies had led its GDP to grow exponentially from $104billion in the year 2000 to $314billion in the year 2008 with an impressive average real inflation rate of 12% per annum. This three fold increase was mostly
due to its the then booming real estate and construction industry that allowed UAE to achieve the title of being the only nation in the world to have
achieved such remarkable growth.
However in 2009, soon after the 2008 Great Recession in the USA, the economy of the UAE plummeted as the GDP dropped to $270billion. Amongst all sectors, the construction and the real
estate sector were the greatest contributors to the decline of the economy, as
their growth rates plunged to -20% in 2009. In addition, UAE, chiefly the
emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, had developed their housing and construction
industries with leveraged tall towers, houses and hotels creating a massive
real-estate bubble. The 2008 Great Recession, believed to have begun in the US
chiefly after the Lehman Brothers’ demise, greatly impacted the UAE economy as
the USA was a major trading partner and many construction projects were
financed by US based financial institutions.
Although the 2008 Great Recession had a grave impact
on UAE’s economy, all of its industries recovered from the recession by 2010
except the construction and housing industry. For nearly 4 years, from 2009
till May 2013, the construction and real estate industries underwent a period
of economic stagnation and deflation that caused UAE to have a low average
inflation rate of 0.9% in 2009-2013. Hence through this investigation, I wish
to explore the reasons why the economic policies of the UAE were ineffective in
recovering the construction and real-estate industry.
Thus my research question: To what extent have
the economic policies, which have been adopted in the UAE during
2009-2013, helped recovering its construction and real-estate industry from
recession?
As a part of my research I would like to know the trends in the recruitment industry for jobs pertaining to construction and real estate in UAE. Therefore, I would be grateful if you could spare a few minutes to kindly fill out this quick survey to the best of your knowledge.
Shailesh Patro
A Grade 11 student currently pursuing the IB diploma at the American Embassy School
This research (IB Extended Essay) is being conducted for the partial fulfillment of the International Baccalaureate diploma