The UAE registered a 33 per cent year-on-year decline in September in overall job opportunities posted online compared to the same month last year, according to leading online recruiters Monster.

The continuing decline observed over the past three months could be attributed to the lingering oil prices and the challenging market conditions that have made companies hesitant about growing their workforce, however, this may not last very long, said Sanjay Modi, managing director, Monster.com, APAC & Middle East.

“Job seekers in the UAE have been facing difficulty finding relevant employment opportunities online over the past few months as companies reduce their hiring activity in light of the current economic difficulties being faced, however, hope should not be diminished immediately.

“While low oil prices are affecting the nation’s economy, the UAE is ahead of other GCC countries in regards to the nation’s economic diversification efforts, meaning it is less reliant on its oil economy and will be less affected by its price. With a positive outlook for the UAE in 2017, and with many projects in the pipeline gearing up to expo 2020 and 2021 visions, we expect the UAE employment market to steadily improve across sectors as companies become more confident in the UAE economy and plans start to materialize,” he added.

According to the Capital Economics Q2 2016 Middle East Outlook, the UAE economy is expected to grow at two per cent over the 2017 fiscal year as the nation slowly recovers from low oil prices. Although this figure may represent the slowest growth rate since 2010, the report highlights that the UAE is set to be one of the strongest economies in the GCC over the coming years.

The September Monster Employment Index (MEI), shows that consumer goods/ FMCG (food & packaged food, home appliances, garments/ textiles/ leather, gems &jewelry) is the only industry to report growth in online job postings at one per cent from the same period last year amongst all the industries studied.

The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity in Middle-East based on a real-time review of tens of thousands of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career Web sites and online job listings. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.

From the GCC countries analysed, the latest MEI records that Bahrain and Oman continue to be the only nations to register year-on-year growth in September 2016 with a four per cent increase in online recruitment activity observed in Oman, followed by two per cent in Bahrain. – TradeArabia News Service