Hirings in Middle East being affected by low oil prices

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Hirings in Middle East being affected by low oil prices

Dubai - The steepest growth in demand in the Middle East is that of HR and administration, and healthcare professionals.

By Staff Report

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Published: Fri 20 Nov 2015, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Sun 22 Nov 2015, 7:36 AM

The Monster Employment Index for October revealed that the year-on-year job growth rate in the region has slowed down further, from 24 per cent in September to 14 per cent last month, with low oil prices weighing in on the non-oil sector.
A similar slowdown in the growth momentum was observed in six-and three-month rates as well.
Year-on-year, banking, financial services and insurance, or BFSI; and IT and telecom/ISP lead all industry groups in the Middle East yet again.
The education sector in the Middle East recorded the most notable decline this month closely followed by the oil and gas sector.
The steepest growth in demand in the Middle East is that of HR and administration, and healthcare professionals.
Kuwait, Egypt and the UAE are the top employment generating countries on a year-on-year basis.
The Monster Employment Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.
"We continue to see a slowdown in the job market in the region, as evidenced by the MEI index which has almost halved from 24 per cent year-on-year growth in September 2015 to 14 per cent in October 2015," said Sanjay Modi, managing director of Monster.com (India, Middle East, South-east Asia and Hong Kong).
"This slowdown is reflected throughout the region, including the UAE market. This slowdown in online job demand is in line with industry reports about the economic slowdown in the country, triggered by the weak oil prices which are impacting the non-oil sector as well; the gradual fiscal tightening; and the softening of real estate prices in Dubai."
The job market is not all bleak; we have good news for those looking for a job in the healthcare sector in the UAE, which has grown at 34 per cent year-on-year as compared to the same period last year. According to the Ventures Middle East Onsite report, the UAE is building more than 20 hospitals to care of the half-a-million medical tourists that are expected by 2020, with medical revenues to hit $300 million by 2016," added Modi.
"The second and third top growth industries in the UAE are consumer goods/fast-moving consumer goods/textiles/gems and jewellery, as well as retail/trade and logistics. With online job demand growing 32 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively, year-on-year."
"Occupation-wise, employers in the UAE are hiring professionals specialised in sales and business development roles (up 53 per cent year-on-year), HR and Administrative roles (up 31 per cent) and healthcare roles (up 22 per cent)".
Overall, the UAE is the third-best performing country in terms of job demand, which is up 18 per cent in October 2015, compared to the same month last year. Recruitment activity in Saudi Arabia has slipped below the year-ago level, leaving it at the bottom of the chart when looking at the online activity country wise, compared to other monitored Middle East countries.
Kuwait, on the other hand, led all countries with a 23 per cent year-on-year growth. The country has been charting robust annual growth rate since August 2015 and job opportunities have grown 30 per cent since July 2015.
BFSI - up 31 per cent - supplanted IT and telecom/ISP (up 30 per cent) to lead all industry sectors by the way of long-term growth. The year-on-year growth momentum even though lower than that observed in the first two quarters has surpassed that of September (23 per cent). The sector has recorded steep growth on the month (up 14 per cent) following low level in the third quarter of 2015. The annual growth momentum has increased for the IT and telecom/ISP sector as well, up from 28 per cent in September.
Online recruitment activity in consumer goods/FMCG, food and packaged food, home appliance, garments/textiles/leather, gems and jewellery (up four per cent) exceeded the year-ago level. This is the first positive growth since June 2015. It is notable that hiring in the sector has been unsteady, mostly negative since August 2012 with Index reading for the series consistently below the baseline starting April 2014.
The oil and gas sector has charted negative annual growth since the beginning of the year. A 19 per cent drop in opportunities from the year-ago this month is the tenth successive decline of the series.
The education sector, which has been growing in double-digits since October 2014, registered a negative year-on growth this month; down 22 per cent. This is the steepest decline in the series and also among all industry sectors. Online hiring activity in the sector has been gradually slowing since July 2015.
- business@khaleejtimes.com


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