UAE continues to be largest job generator in GCC

Despite claims about the number of jobs lost making headlines in the recent past, exclusive research by Emirates Business reveals that the UAE continues to be the largest job generator in the GCC, accounting for 50 per cent of new jobs in the marketplace.

Emirates Business studied almost 7,675 job openings posted during the past three months on four leading recruitment and jobs websites – bayt.com, monstergulf.com, careerjunctionme.com and gulftalent.com. Out of the 7,675 positions surveyed, 3,754 jobs – or approximately 50 per cent – were listed for the UAE, making it the most lucrative market for jobseekers within the GCC.

Experts opine that there is still a lot of potential in the local market and companies are continuing to hire. Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab market, came in second followed by Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. UAE leads the way in most sectors but Saudi Arabia retains an edge over the Emirates for jobs in oil and gas, telecommunications and IT.

Ian Giulianotti, Associate Director at Nadia Recruitment, said: "Since the beginning of this year 85 per cent of adverts posted by Nadia have been for the UAE, five per cent have been for Iraq and eight per cent for Saudi Arabia."

"We have seen an eight per cent drop in the number of vacancies in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same period last year but our revenues are up three per cent. We've done fewer deals but they have been of higher value," he added.

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