ESCWA, PwC Middle East, and Microsoft collaborate with the Ministry for this initiative
The Ministry of Labour (MoL), in partnership with United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Microsoft, and PwC Middle East in Qatar, has announced that its Technical Office has created an innovative AI algorithm/model that will serve the Nationalization program and at the same time support the private sector.
The focus of the Transformation Management Office which is led by Mr. Salim Al Barami who has innovated the Algorithm, is not only to digitize and transform user services offered by the Ministry but also innovate solutions through the use of Agile software development, digital cloud and other emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide customers and stakeholders a seamless user experience and has mutual positive business impact in Qatar.
This first of its kind nationalization algorithm will transform the nationalization in the Private sector due to its interactive nature which will calculate the nationalization percentages in a tailored way rather than a general set percentage to be applied across all the Private sector. The Algorithm takes several parameters into account such as the industry type, size, job title, average salary among other criteria. It considers the firms’ characteristics, including profitability, the proportion of Qatari in employment, and the share of wages to revenues, among others. It also includes multi-variate revenue prediction model. As such, it will balance the economic impact on businesses, reduce any potential negative impact on both the industry and the government and will creating a seamless customer experience and an empowered labour force in the State of Qatar.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) has supported MOL on tasks related to creating labor market analytics, detecting the fourth industrial revolution skills in Qatar, and developing the foundation of a state-of-the-art matching platform for nationals based on ESCWA’s Skills Monitor. Now, ESCWA and the ministry of labor are creating a model that can optimize the number of national employees per firm, away from the quota system. The model is built on a scientific model using state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence.
ESCWA spokesperson said: “ESCWA is proud to support the Ministry of Labour in building an automated model that uses artificial intelligence to detect the level of Qatarization in private sector firms. The model will be built using the Ministry’s depository of employee structure in the Qatari Private sector.”
Lana Khalaf, General Manager, Microsoft Qatar, said, “As part of our strategic partnership with the Ministry of Labour, we are proud to be the technology provider empowering the Ministry with ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities to realize the objectives of the jobs nationalization program. Qatar will be the first country in the region to achieve a smart nationalization initiative utilizing the power of AI.”
Bassam Hajhamad, Qatar Country Senior Partner at PwC in Qatar said: ““We are very proud to be part of this important initiative, critical to transform the labour force in Qatar, build new skills, and enable true transformation at national and sector levels, as part of Qatar National Vision 2030. At PwC, we remain very committed to our strategic partnership with MoL, delivering actionable and sustained outcomes.”
H.E has given a recognition award to Mr. Salim Al Barami who has not only innovated the Algorithm but also ensured that MOL pioneers the cloud in Qatar in addition to creating successful partnership with the esteemed organizations like ESCWA, PWC and Microsoft. Commenting on the concept creation, he said: “I would like to thank H.E for giving me the trust and the space to innovate which is the true example of great leadership. As a Data Scientist, I believe that data is key to changing the world and with the right algorithm and AI technologies, we can tailor make solutions for our stakeholders. I look forward to start implementing the algorithm nationally.”
The project comes in alignment with the broader objectives of Qatar’s National Vision (QNV2030) to modernize the labour sector administration and enhance the ministry’s customer satisfaction index, while also making the Ministry of Labour in Qatar the first ministry in the region to create such an algorithm.
