Dubai adds 11,877 jobs in February

Dubai’s Business Registration and Licencing (BRL) division of the Department of Economic Development (DED) has issued 4,459 new licences in February that created 11,877 jobs, reported news agency WAM.

Of the total number of licences issued, 72.4 per cent were professional, 26.1 per cent were commercial, 1.1 per cent were related to tourism and 0.4 per cent were for industries.

Read: Dubai Economy issues 4,692 instant licences to date

The majority of the licenses issued were to businessmen from countries including India, Saudi Arabia, Britain and Egypt, among others, and were primarily awarded to businesses in Deira (2,573) and Bur Dubai (1,883).

DED’s “Business Map” digital platform saw 32,740 business registration and licencing transactions in February, with DED’s outsourced service centres conducting 24,546 transactions or 75 per cent of the total BRL transactions.

Licence renewal accounted for 12,568 transactions, while auto-renewal via text messages accounted for 6,224 transactions.

There were 5,770 trade name reservations, 1,494 commercial permits and 5,770 initial approvals.

The BRL also issued 218 instant licences in February. The instant licence service enables businessmen to obtain a commercial license within five minutes.

Dubai Economy has issued over 4,692 instant licences since the launch of the service in July 2017.

Read: Women account for 60% of Dubai social media business licences – new data

The number of BRL licences which facilitate business activities on websites and social media channels reached 335 in February. In September, data from the DED revealed that women account for 60 per cent of social media business licences in Dubai.

Of all the licence transactions in Dubai, the areas that accounted for the bulk of transactions were Al Garhoud (19.6 per cent), Burj Khalifa (10.7 per cent), Oud Al Muteena 3 (9.8 per cent) and Trade Centre 1 (7.8 per cent).

‫Real estate, leasing and business services accounted for 50 per cent of the economic activities licenced in February, followed by trade and repair services (21.7 per cent) and building and construction (9.7 per cent).

Read: Dubai launches virtual company licences

In October, Dubai launched virtual company licenses that allowed investors worldwide to do business in Dubai digitally – without requiring residence in the emirate.