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29 March 2024

Middle East job market improves

Commenting on the occupation six-month trends, the report states that seven of the 11 groups monitored by the index registered positive six-month growth in June. (REUTERS)

Published
By Shuchita Kapur
The Middle East job market showed improvement last month, according to the Monster Employment Index Gulf. It marked a rises of 8 per cent month-over-month.
“The latest increase in the Monster Employment Index Gulf was driven by rising demand for professionals in a variety of categories such as legal, customer service and banking/ finance,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director (India/Middle East/South East Asia), Monster.com. “Counterbalancing the rise in these sectors is the notable drop in tourism and hospitality, possibly caused by reduced tourism during the summer months.”
As far as industry specific growth is concerned, the index shows that the six-month trends show that seven of the 12 industry sectors monitored register positive six-month growth trend in June.
BFSI (up 44 per cent) recorded the strongest growth in June, expanding a notable 33 per cent from May 2011. Advertising, Market Research, PR (up 17 per cent) and Retail (up 9 per cent) were amidst the fastest growth sectors over six months. 
Engineering, Construction and Real Estate (up 5 per cent) saw the first positive monthly growth in recruitment activity since March. Production/Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillary (down 23 per cent) tempered for the fourth consecutive month to reach the lowest point in the series. Hospitality (down 46 per cent) sector displayed further contraction in June.
Commenting on the occupation six-month trends, the report states that seven of the 11 groups monitored by the index registered positive six-month growth in June.
Customer Service (up 63 per cent) continued to be the leading occupation fuelled by an additional 8 percent month-over-month growth in online demand. Health Care (up 9 per cent) recorded improved six-month growth momentum rising from -3 per cent in May to 9 per cent in June. Sales and BD (down 10 per cent) displayed a much milder pace of six-month decline in June compared to May.
Comparing the countries in the region, the Monster findings show that Bahrain was in the lead after marking a 32 per cent increase. On the other hand, Egypt (down -13 per cent) and Oman (down 17 per cent) saw the largest 6-month drops.