UAE advertised job vacancies for professionals rise by 8%

19/04/2016

The latest Robert Walters Middle East Jobs Index has revealed that vacancies for professionals across the United Arab Emirates increased by 8% between Q4 2015 and Q1 2016. 

• The number of advertised job vacancies for professionals, across accountancy and finance, banking and financial services, legal, sales, marketing, and procurement and supply chain, in the UAE rose by 8% in the first quarter of 2016 compared to quarter four of 2015.
• Jobs growth was strongest in sales and marketing (23%), with legal (6.5%) also seeing healthy growth.
• Financial sectors saw decline in advertised jobs for professionals, with banking and financial services seeing the highest decline (-17%), followed by accounting and finance (-7%).

Despite uncertainty in the financial markets, employers across a range of sectors have looked to expand over the last three months, spurring demand for a wide range of professionals. This is evident in sectors such as sales and marketing and legal.

Globally, the financial services sector is restructuring and the decrease in advertised roles of professionals suggests the Middle East is no exception.  However, with a greater focus on retail banking than that of investment banking, the downturn has been felt on a lesser scale in the UAE than in other regions.

In accounting and finance there was a slight decline in advertised roles as market conditions force large financial institutions, such as the big four audit firms, to defer all but the most critical hires until later in the year. We do expect an upturn in market confidence towards the end of 2016, which should see more advertised jobs within this sector.

The overall trend is one of improvement with business confidence returning in some of the sectors worse hit in Q4 2015. 

Jason Grundy, Country Head at Robert Walters – Middle East, comments:

“Although the UAE remains a popular choice for expats, and indeed job vacancy posts receive a lot of interest globally, we are seeing an increasing gap in company requirements and talent available in the region.” 

Strong demand for sales and marketing professionals indicates employers are keen to attract new business. 

“The strong demand for sales and marketing professionals is a particularly positive sign, indicating that employers are keen to attract new business and that they are prepared to invest in top talent to achieve this goal.”

A candidate short market for specialist legal skills see advertised jobs increase by 6.5%

“As the UAE is ever developing as an economy and as it faces fresh challenges, specialists across all areas are increasingly sought by employers, particularly in areas such as legal. This has resulted in high competition from leading employers to attract the right skill set for their business.”

Jason Grundy concludes:

“We have seen increased interest from clients to take up bespoke job advertising plans, placing adverts across multiple job boards and jurisdictions in order to reach wider audiences. We believe this trend will continue and companies will need to ensure they remain attractive and visible prospects for prospective employees in order to not compromise their hiring objectives.”

For more information please contact:

Jason Grundy, Country Head (Middle East)
Tel: +971 4 8180 102
Email: jason.grundy@robertwalters.com
Unit C 1008, Level 10 Burj Daman,
Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai.