The number of job vacancies across the Gulf has more than doubled in a year, according to one of the world's biggest employment websites.
Monster.com says there was a 117 per cent increase last month in regional job postings compared with November last year. UAE job listings grew 71 per cent in the same period.
There was a 136 per cent rise in jobs listed in Saudi Arabia, while listings in Qatar more than tripled.
Recruiters and economists said this indicated a wider economic recovery. "Across industry sectors there is a positive momentum … Employers are talking about expanding their recruitment activities," said Sanjay Modi, the managing director of Monster.com in the Middle East, India and South East Asia.
Mr Modi named five industry sectors that "drive the momentum": construction, manufacturing, energy, IT and finance.
"Each one of them is showing a positive, robust growth. None had a decline at all," he said. "We can expect this momentum to continue because it was not just driven by one or two sectors."
Mr Modi cited a 117 per cent increase in the number of job listings in the six GCC countries plus Lebanon, Egypt and Jordanlast month compared with November last year.
During the economic downturn, there was a decline in job postings, he said. "It dropped by 47-48 per cent from March until October 2009, and then from November until about January or February there was a stabilisation process." Other recruiters also reported an increase in the number of jobs being posted in the region.
"We had a very busy second and third quarter," said Christo Daniels, the managing director of the recruitment firm Morgan McKinley in the UAE. "The economy is showing signs of recovery and we are expecting growth of 30 per cent next year."
Lama Ataya, the head of marketing and communication for the regional employment site Bayt.com, said its total job postings had nearly doubled over the past year, from about 6,000 to 11,500.
Maria Brown, the MENA region associate director for the employment agency Reed Specialist Recruitment, said "the figures are definitely up" but added that from her company's perspective, the Monster.com numbers seem "rather inflated".
"From a Qatar point of view, the market has been consistent. It's always had a positive growth pattern. I think this week's events, with the winning of the [2022] World Cup, has cemented many companies' expansion plans," Ms Brown said. "From a UAE perspective, there's been a lot of strategic restructuring. There's a lot of organic growth."
Simon Williams, the chief economist for MENA at HSBC, said "employment growth is picking up speed".
"This is a marker that businesses are feeling confident and is a good leading indicator of growth in private consumption and credit," he said.
But job creation in the UAE's non-oil private sector was at its weakest last month in the 16-month history of HSBC's purchasing managers' index, according to data released yesterday. Managing costs was an important reason for the slowdown, according to evidence gathered by the survey.
New orders and company expansions accounted for the jobs growth, HSBC said.
Although more companies may be recruiting as confidence in the future improves, many firms remain reluctant to increase staff salaries, Mr Williams said.
"Wage growth is very weak and that's because we have a fairly loose labour market," he said.
Hiring has gradually resumed this year as companies look to fill positions cut during the economic downturn, or as part of a drive to expand.
A longer-term challenge for governments and private companies in the region remains making inroads into the relatively high number of unemployed GCC nationals, especially among the young. Youth unemployment in Saudi Arabia is estimated at 28 per cent, 27 per cent in Bahrain, and 12 per cent in the UAE.
bflanagan@thenational.ae
tarnold@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company%20Profile
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Final results:
Open men
Australia 94 (4) beat New Zealand 48 (0)
Plate men
England 85 (3) beat India 81 (1)
Open women
Australia 121 (4) beat South Africa 52 (0)
Under 22 men
Australia 68 (2) beat New Zealand 66 (2)
Under 22 women
Australia 92 (3) beat New Zealand 54 (1)
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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MATCH INFO
Asian Champions League, last 16, first leg:
Al Ain 2 Al Duhail 4
Second leg:
Tuesday, Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha. Kick off 7.30pm
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday
Saint-Etienne v Montpellier (10.45pm)
Saturday
Monaco v Caen (7pm)
Amiens v Bordeaux (10pm)
Angers v Toulouse (10pm)
Metz v Dijon (10pm)
Nantes v Guingamp (10pm)
Rennes v Lille (10pm)
Sunday
Nice v Strasbourg (5pm)
Troyes v Lyon (7pm)
Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain (11pm)
The five pillars of Islam
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Biog
Mr Kandhari is legally authorised to conduct marriages in the gurdwara
He has officiated weddings of Sikhs and people of different faiths from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Russia, the US and Canada
Father of two sons, grandfather of six
Plays golf once a week
Enjoys trying new holiday destinations with his wife and family
Walks for an hour every morning
Completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Loyola College, Chennai, India
2019 is a milestone because he completes 50 years in business
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The details
Heard It in a Past Life
Maggie Rogers
(Capital Records)
3/5
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Enterprise-grade%20security%20and%20privacy%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Unlimited%20higher-speed%20GPT-4%20access%20with%20no%20caps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Longer%20context%20windows%20for%20processing%20longer%20inputs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Advanced%20data%20analysis%20capabilities%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customisation%20options%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Shareable%20chat%20templates%20that%20companies%20can%20use%20to%20collaborate%20and%20build%20common%20workflows%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Analytics%20dashboard%20for%20usage%20insights%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Free%20credits%20to%20use%20OpenAI%20APIs%20to%20extend%20OpenAI%20into%20a%20fully-custom%20solution%20for%20enterprises%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
Company%20Profile
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What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.