A national programme designed to create 5,000 industrial jobs for Emiratis by 2027 has surpassed its target a year ahead of schedule, with more than 5,200 opportunities generated since its launch.
Officials announced the milestone ahead of the Industrialists Career Exhibition in Abu Dhabi, where more than 1,000 additional vacancies are being offered by over 70 participating companies.
The exhibition, launched in 2023 under the National In-Country Value programme, was originally tasked with creating 5,000 industrial-sector jobs for Emiratis by 2027.
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“We have achieved our KPI that was supposed to be achieved in 2027,” said Ibtisam Al Saadi, acting assistant undersecretary for the industrial development sector at the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology. “Today, we are proud to say that we provided more than 5,200 job opportunities and our target was 5,000 by 2027.”
The announcement came as thousands of Emiratis streamed into the Abu Dhabi Energy Centre for the two-day event. According to Al Saadi, more than 3,000 job seekers had already registered by 9am on the first day.
Organisers say demand is increasingly concentrated in emerging fields including artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing and industrial engineering.
“Most of them are still in the engineering sector. However, it is AI, industrial engineering and many other fields related to advanced technology,” Al Saadi said.
She added that interest among Emirati students and graduates in AI-related disciplines continues to grow, pointing to rising enrolment in artificial intelligence and cybertechnology programmes.
Omar Al Nuaimi, acting group chief commercial and in-country value officer at ADNOC, said the programme had created around 4,200 opportunities before this year’s edition, with another 1,000 vacancies now available.
“Our target for 2027 was 5,000 job opportunities. Today in 2026, I’m glad to announce that we’ve reached another 1,000, so we’ve achieved the 5,000 before our target by one year,” he said.
Many of the vacancies on offer span engineering, operations, health and safety, logistics, finance, administration and technology roles.
Officials said the exhibition is also helping reshape perceptions of industrial careers, which increasingly involve laboratories, research centres, digital operations and advanced technologies rather than traditional manufacturing environments alone.
“People understand that when we talk about industry, it doesn’t mean that you have to be working in a factory,” Al Saadi said.
