UAE sees robust jobs growth: Govt data
dubai — Real estate, construction, manufacturing, domestic services, market research, government sector, media and IT will create most of the jobs in the coming year, according to industry executives.
They believe that the government is trying to make the UAE a hub for manufacturing and corporate services, hence encouraging higher growth for the industries, which will result in creation of more jobs in the country.
The UAE central bank’s data revealed that 60,900 additional jobs were created between June 2017 and June 2018, mostly due to construction and real estate activities, surpassing five million mark. In total, the UAE added 1.22 per cent additional workers to 5.028 million during the comparative period.
Construction sector added 1.92 per cent workforce to 1.703 million while real estate firms hired 5.4 per cent additional employees reaching 0.604 million workers. These two sectors are witnessing increased hiring as public and private sector firms look to complete projects ahead of Expo 2020 Dubai. However, services and manufacturing sectors reduced the number of jobs by 0.8 per cent to 1.112 million and 469,700, respectively, between June 2017 and June this year. The number of jobs in transport, storage and communication declined 3.3 per cent
Hiring intentions are on the rise with three in every four employers planning to hire and the outlook continues to improve Suhail Masri, VP for employer solutions, Bayt.com
The [UAE] government’s policies are encouraging job creation as it aims to make the country an industrial hub
Ali Matar, head of LinkedIn for Mena
from 372,100 in June last year to 778,500 in June 2018.
Suhail Masri, vice-president for employer solutions at Bayt.com, said hiring intentions are on the rise with three in every four UAE employers are planning to hire and the outlook continues to improve as 86 per cent of employers are planning to hire in the coming year.
More than 90 per cent of companies in real estate, construction, domestic services, civil service, market research and media will be hiring in the coming year. While as many as 64 per cent of advertising, marketing, public relations and aviation sector firms have confirmed hiring in the coming year, he said.
According to Oneal Hector D’Cunha, general manager for business development, Sundus Recruitment and Outsourcing Services, said jobs related to robotics and artificial intelligence from the IT sector will be in high demand.
Positions in demand
“There would be increase hiring in IT sector and also in energy sector. As economies are diversifying, we are looking at manufacturing as well. Most of the positions for the junior and mid-level — especially on the engineering side — will see high demand,” D’Cunha added.
Ali Matar, head of LinkedIn for the Mena, said recreation and travel sector will be one of the strongest growing industries in terms of recruitment activities in fourthquarter 2018 and next year.
“Other industries, such as finance, construction and manufacturing, as well as corporate services, continue to play a prevalent role and have experienced significant growth of net hires also. We anticipate this trend to continue through all of next year,” he added.
Matar said that the government’s policies are encouraging job creation as its aims to make the country a hub for the industries.
He sees managerial level positions as well as project management and sales followed by junior to mid-level roles in marketing and finance will be high in demand.
Suhail Masri of Bayt.com said that majority of the UAE companies will be hiring junior and mid-career positions, with maximum requirement emerging for junior executive, followed by manager, senior executive and coordinator. Still, some companies are looking to fill top management positions, with 35 per cent looking to hire C-suite or managing director positions.
Sales executive, accountant and project manager emerge among the top roles that UAE respondents are hiring for overall. This is followed by sales manager, director (marketing, project management) and finance analyst.
Q2 hiring slows
According to the Central Bank of the UAE, the slowdown noted in the non-oil sector during the second quarter of 2018 was mainly due to the deceleration in labour demand, with employment growing by 1.2 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2018.
Growth of employment has slowed down from a 2.8 per cent year-on-year increase in the previous quarter, thereby increasing on average by two per cent year-on-year in the first half of the year, compared to an increase of 2.4 per cent in the first half of 2017.