Latest hiring outlook in UAE: More jobs in coming months

Dubai: The job market in the UAE still looks positive, with nearly six in ten recruiters expecting new vacancies to open up over the next six months, a recruitment specialist said on Wednesday.

In the latest hiring outlook survey by Naukrigulf, 57 per cent of companies predicted that new jobs will be created in the UAE in the coming months. About 14 per cent of the respondents also forecast new vacancies at the top level for the first half of 2016.

Attrition rates seem to have slowed down as well, as fewer people are opting to leave their employers to pursue other career opportunities elsewhere. Some firms are, however, facing a talent crunch.

According to Naukrigulf’s survey, which seeks to measure hiring sentiment of companies and consultants in the UAE, 54 per cent of employers recorded “single-digit” attrition rates during the first few months of the year.

“With growing number of employees not moving out to explore other opportunities, attrition levels in UAE are low,” Naukrigulf said.

Tarun Aggarwal, business head at Naukrigulf.com, said the results of their survey indicate that the employment market in the UAE still looks positive.

“The outlook for UAE’s job market is seeing a shift in expectation of new jobs creation in spite of the slump feared due to lower oil and trading revenues,” Aggarwal said.

As of February online job postings in the UAE went up by 76 per cent from a year earlier. Increased recruitment activity was noted in the healthcare, education, information technology and Telecom/ISP industries, according to the latest Monster Employment Index.

Other recruitment specialists, including GulfTalent, said in a statement this month that a growing number of organisations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region however, had resorted to some job cuts due to the current crunch.