Pakistanis, Indians among top professional migrants to UAE

The UAE, which is home to more than 200 nationalities, is expatriatefriendly country, offering almost everything needed, which is the reason it ranked top for attracting professionals for the second consecutive year, a LinkedIn study revealed. In a latest tweet, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said: "The UAE attracts great minds because they value opportunity, quality of life, transparency, good governance and sustainable growth. Wise nations consider the innovations of the human mind to be priceless."

Indians emerged as the leading professional migrants to the UAE. Around 2.6 million Indians live in the UAE and out of that a significant number of professionals work at key positions in banking, real estate, information technology, media and retail sectors among others. The global study by LinkedIn said: "By analysing every new position that was added to member profiles between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2014, LinkedIn determined that the UAE attracts the most talent, gaining 1.89 per cent as a percentage of its total workforce."

"This is the second year that the UAE has been revealed as the most attractive destination for professionals. LinkedIn has more than 380 million members from around the world, including more than 16 million in the Middle East and North Africa region, and more than two million members in the UAE, which enables us to determine trends amongst the globe's connected professionals," said Ali Matar, head of talent solutions at LinkedIn Middle East and North Africa.

According to the study, India is the leading source of professional talent coming to the UAE representing 28 per cent, with the United Kingdom, Pakistan, United States and Qatar making up the top five. Other Gulf nations contributed a combined 11 per cent of members who moved to the UAE. The top sectors for talent moving into the UAE in 2014 were professional services, architectural and engineering, financial services and insurance, technology (software), and retail and consumer products, while the most common occupations were salespeople, marketing specialists, project managers, corporate finance specialists, accountants, consultants and mechanical engineers.

"It is especially interesting that the results of this study show that the UAE's attractiveness as an employment market is no longer limited to the traditional sources of talent, which for years have been India, Pakistan and other Arab states.