UAE employers optimistic about level of new hires in year ahead

Two thirds (69 per cent) of employers in the UAE are planning to recruit extra staff in the next 12 months, a survey from YouGov and Bayt.com has revealed – up 2 per cent on the same period on 2016.

Optimism was higher in UAE than the region as a whole, where 64 per cent believed they would take on additional employees. In Kuwait, 67 per cent of organisations were planning to recruit in the next year, and 65 per cent were in Jordan. Almost 1,500 employers were surveyed between May and June this year in the latest Middle East Job Index.

“The hiring forecast across the region shows a continuation of a strong job market, with over six in 10 employers in the region planning to hire within the next year, and one half planning to hire within three months,” said Suhail Masri, VP of employer solutions at Bayt.com.

Multinational companies in the private sector came out on top as having the highest proportion of employers looking for new staff (67 per cent) within the year, but only 49 per cent said they were planning to hire within the next three months, suggesting that organisations are most optimistic about their longer-term prospects.

“Hiring expectancy is one of the most important areas to study in the MENA region as it can serve as a reflection on the state of the economy and general job availability,” said Anjali Chhabra, senior research manager at YouGov.

Monster’s latest Employment Index suggested that recruitment across the UAE had been sluggish during the second quarter of the year. Online job postings for April, May and June were down by 14 per cent, reported Gulf News.

Industries such as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), textiles and jewellery bucked the trend with growing demand for new staff. But, warned Sanjay Modi, managing director of Monster.com Asia Pacific and Middle East, rising demand for staff in the FMCG sector could be down to the high labour turnover rates.

Last month People Management reported that approximately 18,000 jobs are expected to be created in the UAE’s travel and tourism sector in the next year, as a number of large luxury hotels are set to open in the country.