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19 March 2024

Which professionals most in demand in Middle East now?

According to SEI’s ‘Employment Trends and Managing End of Service Benefits in the Middle East’ report, the UAE’s burgeoning growth shows no signs of abating. (Shutterstock)

Published
By Shuchita Kapur

It’s a positive outlook for legal professionals as the number of vacancies for those in this particular sector has soared in the Middle East by as much as 33 per cent between October 2013 and 2014.

According to the latest Monster Middle East Employment Index, a monthly gauge of online job posting activity in Middle East from career websites and online job listings, online demand expanded for nine of the 11 occupational groups monitored by the index and legal professional topped the list.

As the region shows strong signs of economic growth now, an increase in legal hiring for both in-house and private practices has gone up too.

Legal professionals witnessed layoffs and limited hiring during recession years and the lull recovery period that followed it but now most law firms are once again adding headcount to their legal teams, shooting up demand.

Legal professionals were followed by demand for those in hospitality and travel (up 19 per cent) moderated vis-à-vis the previous months.

The sector saw the most dramatic annual growth in the second quarter of 2014.

Healthcare professionals saw a 17 per cent jump in online vacancies over the period mentioned and finance and account personnel saw a 13 per cent jump in positions advertised on the online medium for them.

Online demand for software, hardware and telecom bounced back. The group recorded a 12 per cent growth in demand (year-on-year) following a six per cent drop in September 2014.

Those in marketing and communications saw a 10 per cent surge whereas professionals in engineering and production saw a 5 per cent increase in the number of vacancies posted.

HR and administration professionals saw a marginal 3 per cent jump.

On the other hand, there were some categories of professionals that witnessed a drop in their demand.

Customer service was down five per cent and professionals in purchase, logistics, supply chain seemed the worst hit as this group registered a dip of 16 per cent.