Dubai: Though hiring in the UAE has slowed down in line with uncertain market conditions, the latest trends suggest the pace is likely to pick up in 2017.
According to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI), September was particularly bleak, with the UAE registering a 33 percent year-on-year decline in overall job opportunities posted online compared to September 2015
However, recruitment specialists forecast an increase in hiring outlook next year. They said that a number of projects currently in the pipeline, including those slated for Expo 2020, will soon open up opportunities for jobseekers in the UAE, reported Gulf News.
As of September, hiring by companies in engineering, construction and real estate; hospitality; oil and gas; information and technology, telecommunications and chemicals posted negative growth.
Among the professionals seeing a reduction in job postings are those with background and qualifications in finance and accounting; human resources and administration; customer service; software, hardware and telecommunications, as well as marketing and communications, said the news portal.
“Jobseekers in the UAE have been facing difficulty finding relevant employment opportunities online over the past few months, as companies reduce their hiring activity in light of the current economic difficulties being faced,” Sanjay Modi, managing director at Monster.com Asia Pacific and Middle East, reportedly said.
Recruitment activity also declined in other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, with Qatar posting a drop of 25 percent, Kuwait 22 percent, and Saudi Arabia 5 percent. Oman and Bahrain are the only two states in the GCC that have shown an increase in online hiring at 4 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
Among the businesses monitored in the UAE, only those in consumer goods, food, home appliance, textiles, leather, gems and jewelry recorded an increase in online recruitment, Gulf News quoted the report.
The hospitality industry reportedly registered the biggest drop in hiring at 42 percent, followed by the engineering, construction and real estate sector at 33 percent, oil and gas at 31 percent, IT and telecom/ISP at 9 percent and chemicals, plastics, rubber, paints and fertilizer/pesticides industries at 4 percent.
Finance and accounting professionals witnessed the biggest drop in hiring at 52 percent, while job offers also declined by 33 percent among HR and administration professionals. Postings for customer service positions dropped by 30 percent and for software, hardware and telecom roles by 29 percent.
Openings for engineering and production jobs went down by 17 percent, while hiring for marketing and communications/arts/creative roles dropped by 16 percent, the report said.
Modi, however, was quoted as saying that the situation will improve next year, especially since the UAE is “ahead of other GCC countries in regards to the nation’s economic diversification efforts.” “It is less reliant on its oil economy and will be less affected by its price.”
The Capital Economics second quarter 2016 Middle East outlook noted that the UAE economy is expected to grow at 2 percent in 2017 as the country slowly recovers from low oil prices.
“With a positive outlook for the UAE in 2017, and with many projects in the pipeline gearing up to Expo 2020 and 2021 visions, we expect the UAE employment market to steadily improve across sectors as companies become more confident in the UAE economy and plans start to materialize,” Modi was quoted as saying by Gulf News.
