Report
Gulf Employment Index Q2 2023
TALENT YOU CAN TRUST SINCE 1997Pictured: Cooper Fitch Founder and CEO Trefor Murphy
Gulf Employment Index
Overall we have witnessed a dip in the jobs market in quarter two with the number of new positions showing slightly lower than quarter one. There has been a direct impact from the earlier Ramadan as well as two Eid breaks and the start of the summer months. Despite these events, Saudi Arabia still saw an increase in the number of new opportunities of 6% when compared with quarter one. This number is 3% higher than the number we reported in the same period of 2022 which was when the UAE saw a 10% increase and Bahrain had an impressive 9% hike.
The aviation sector saw a significant drop in employees due to the pandemic however, since 2022 it has had a noteworthy recovery as an industry leading up to the recent announcement of a need for over 100,000 new employees in the next ten years including, cabin crew, pilots and technicians. The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources in Saudi issued 59 industrial licenses in May 2023 with a capital of $142 million which will result in more than 6,000 new jobs in the industrial sector.
Q2 2023 vs Q1 2023
A number of organisations are trying to solve the issue of a shortage in skilled cybersecurity professionals one of them being Accenture who launched it’s cyber million program in an attempt to fill one million entry-level jobs. We noticed a 7% increase in quarter two in cyber security jobs due to the high number of security breaches and threat landscape not just in the Gulf but globally. After a strong start to the year the strategy jobs market had a contraction of 4% in the number of new vacancies after firms conducted large-scale hiring in quarter one. Some of the hiring we saw in the UAE has shifted towards the Saudi market where firms are making efforts to build out their practices in the Kingdom.
Real estate jobs soared again in quarter two with an increase of 8%. There has been a rise in recruitment activity for project delivery and controls roles along with a continued demand for professionals with asset and facilities management experience. Public sector roles have soared with a 12% increase when compared with quarter one. We found an uptick in demand for highly specialised international subject matter expert searches.
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