7 Most In-Demand Skills in UAE for 2025

The UAE is focusing on enhancing a sustainable future and building a resilient economy under its UAE Green Agenda by 2030. Parallelly, the UAE needs to upscale its booming sectors like manufacturing and healthcare to achieve the pre-determined projects. The roadmap for most of these developments is in place, but a shortage of skilled workers has become a hurdle for the UAE. In this article, we will explore the work culture and identify the skill gaps in the most prominent industries in the UAE. 

Key Aspects of the Work Culture in UAE

UAE is regarded as one of the best places to work due to the career growth and networking opportunities. Let's explore three highlighting features of the work culture in the UAE.

1. Work week: A typical work week starts on Sunday and concludes on Thursday. This signifies that the organizations respect the cultural priorities of employees so that they can follow their customs and offer prayers. 
2. Hierarchy: Employees in the UAE are accustomed to recognizing the status and hierarchy of their organization. Accordingly, they greet their seniors in a hierarchical order to create a sense of respect. 
3. Dress Code: Each workplace follows a formal dress code in the UAE. Wearing shirts and trousers is common in the office. Some organizations even encourage cultural ethnicity in the UAE. 

In-Demand Skills in the UAE

The UAE's 2025 strategy aims to grow its tech and non-tech sectors, including finance and AI, but the shortage of skilled labor is a key challenge to achieving these objectives. Here are the most in-demand skills:

1. Renewable Energy Engineering Skills

UAE has worked significantly in renewable energy projects since the last decade. Projects such as Masdar City are great examples of clean energy projects and give a promising picture of the UAE Energy Strategy 2050. The government has some mid-term goals for the strategy, such as “3X the share of renewable energy by 2030”, but it still lacks a skilled workforce with expertise in clean energy. This skill gap can be eliminated by availing quality training from experts. 

2. Healthcare skills

The National Strategy for Wellbeing 2031 outlines the objectives for UAE’s medical services. It states that by 2031, the nation aims to become a global leader in tourism healthcare, impacting 40 priority areas in the UAE. To support this expansion, the UAE requires skilled professionals, particularly in the pharmaceutical manufacturing domain, to bridge existing skill gaps and contribute their expertise to the healthcare sector.

3. Advanced Manufacturing Skills

The industrial revenue of the UAE was AED 133 billion, and it is aimed to reach  AED 300 billion through the initiatives of the Operation 300bn program. The main objective is to create an advanced manufacturing ecosystem that can contribute to the development of defense technology and aerospace devices. However, the shortage of skilled employees has been a major hurdle.

This hurdle can be eliminated by improving advanced manufacturing skills through specialized courses and certifications.    

4. Railway Engineering Skills

The construction and deployment of more high-speed trains across the UAE is another objective that needs to be completed by 2030. AED 50bn ($13.6bn) was invested for this project in late 2021. Specialized skills in railway engineering are in high demand to fully understand the requirements and establish best practices for constructing high-speed transportation networks, similar to those in other developed nations. An inadequate workforce has been hindering the objective, and hence, a skill shortage has surfaced in this industry. 

5. Cybersecurity skills

According to reports, 200,000 cyberattacks happen in the UAE every day. The most frequent attack types were service denial and ransomware. However, the  UAE Cyber Security Council found that most of these attacks were executed using AI-driven threats, including deepfake. To safeguard sensitive data, there is a demand for highly qualified cybersecurity specialists who can work on more complex and harder-to-detect threats on cutting-edge technologies. 

6. Civil Engineering Skills

UAE has released its infrastructural plans for 2025, aiming at smart cities, hyperloops, roads, and bridges for several areas. Dubai’s 46% of the budget has been allocated to infrastructure development in 2025, whereas AED 66 billion has been allocated for 144 construction projects across Abu Dhabi, which will span housing, education, tourism and protection of natural resources . A shortage of skilled workers is there to achieve this objective, so more skilled engineers are being sought.

7. Data Science Skills

The Abu Dhabi Government Digital Strategy 2025-2027 is a unique initiative aimed at investing AED 13 billion to make the Abu Dhabi government fully AI-powered. Parallelly, 200 AI initiatives have been aimed to be implemented in various government services. This opens up several other domains, such as cloud computing, software management, database encryption, etc. There’s a tremendous need for data science expertise to contribute and fill this workforce gap.

How to improve your skills for the UAE job market? 

UAE is transforming, and so should your skills. You can upgrade your skills by pursuing a certification or an instructor-led course. Here are three institutes that you can look forward to for improving your skills: 

Abu Dhabi Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ACTVET)

The Abu Dhabi Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ACTVET) is a government-funded organization that regulates and promotes vocational and technical education in Abu Dhabi. It oversees multiple training institutes and ensures high-quality skill-based learning. ACTVET offers vocational diplomas in fields such as engineering, health sciences, business, and IT, along with short-term technical training and industry-based apprenticeships.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at ADVETI

The Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at ADVETI is a government-supported institution that provides specialized vocational programs to prepare students for industry-specific careers. It offers diplomas in Mechatronics, Electrical & Mechanical Engineering, Business, IT, and Health Sciences, as well as training in automotive technology, construction, and aviation maintenance.

Conclusion

The visions set by the UAE for 2025 are focused on prime industries such as financial technologies, manufacturing, infrastructure development, and AI. To contribute to the vision of UAE, teams can improve their skills with specialized courses. Edstellar is a one-stop solution for corporate training led by expert instructors.

To analyze the overall understanding of the domain, you can use the Skill Matrix tool. It helps you to visualize your team’s overall knowledge, performance, and areas of improvement.