Is the improving job market a mirage?

As everybody in the UAE knows, things are finally getting better. Experts tell us that the real estate market is stabilizing, and the job market doesn’t seem to be that shaky anymore. The good news from various reports seem to be telling us that companies are looking at hiring once again and pay hikes, albeit marginal, may once again be the norm.
 
However, real improvements in the job market may take some more time and too much optimism seems a little ahead of time. According to HR experts, things have definitely improved if we compare it with the peak of the crises, but the situation remains fragile.
 
“The job market is better than 2009 (as we usually tend to compare with the peak of the crisis period). However, it is true that all markets are still very unstable and volatile, as the international economic situation has not been stabilized,” Konstantina Sakellariou, Partner, Marketing & Operations Director at Stanton Chase told Emirates 24|7.
 
However, she is quick to point out that it is a mixed-bag when it comes to new job-creation. “There is indeed an increased mobility among executives, compared to the period when people were more conservative regarding career moves, and there is investment in the Gulf region that allows for the creation of more jobs, depending on the industry sector and on the country. On the other hand, the instability in the Middle East makes the companies cautious and, of course, decision making about new hires is made with very careful and conservative criteria,” she said.

Cliff Single, Commercial Manager at BAC Middle East, agrees and maintains that the recovery is measured. “The market had definitely improved from the situation in 2009/2010. However, the recovery is gradual and measured: companies are still being cautious with regard to cost and headcount and are hence very selective with regard to hiring and selection,” he said.
 
Some experts believe that the improvements in the job market are not overstated. “The job market is improving based on facts. As a recruitment agency, [we have] increased [our] headcount in the UAE and opened a new office in Qatar in the last six months - this would not be possible if the recruitment market was not improving,” Hasnain Qazi, Middle East Business Manager at Huxley Associates, told this website.
According to Rick Pudner, CEO of Emirates NBD, the first quarter of 2011 had seen signs of improvement in some of the UAE's non-oil sectors but added that the country was “not entirely out of the woods yet”. He recently told the media that he expected economic activity to pick up further as the year progresses but added that “we are not entirely out of the woods yet, as some key uncertainties, while having progressed satisfactorily to date, remain subject to final resolution. Further, as we've seen during the last year or so, there is still a sense of fragility in the global economic recovery and the same remains true of the region and the UAE,” he said.

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