Banking, oil and gas sectors best for employment in Kuwait: Bayt.com |
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KUWAIT: The majority of professionals in Kuwait would prefer to work either in the banking and finance, or the oil, gas and petrochemicals industry, with a 33% of workers citing the two industries as the most preferable. The figures come despite the current problems the banking and finance sector is facing, as the ripples from the global banking crisis are felt in the Middle East, and despite the problems in the oil and gas sector from continually dropping oil prices, according to recent research conducted by the Middle East's number one job site - Bayt.com in conjunction with research specialists YouGovSiraj.
The IT and construction sectors were joined in second place as the preferred industries to work in inside Kuwait, with 17% of workers signaling their preferences for each, as opposed to the publishing, aerospace, charity, military/defense/police, power and transport/travel industries, which featured amongst the least most popular industry choices.
Corroborating the popularity of the banking and finance sector and the oil, gas and petrochemicals sector the study showed, was the fact that 10% of all surveyed workers had either moved to the industries - or were planning to - which was the highest amongst all of the industry choices. Furthermore, the majority of respondents at 41% felt that banking & finance and oil& gas were the best industries for attracting and retaining talent in Kuwait, while the bulk of respondents in Kuwait at 51% believe that the oil and gas industry offered its employees the best increments, bonuses and benefits.
Respondents in the UAE (at 30%) also cited the banking and finance sector as the most preferred, as did Jordan (at 28%). By contrast, Saudi Arabia's respondents listed oil, gas and petrochemicals as the favorite, with 49% feeling it offered the greatest benefits to employees - perhaps evidence of the belief that as the Saudi government's biggest revenue earner, employees personally would benefit from the sector's economic gains.
The Top Industries Survey was conducted to gauge consumer opinions about various sectors, in order to reveal consumer and employee sentiments vis-?is their industry and highlight which of the region's industries are most likely to attract talent.
It is highly interesting to look at people's feelings towards the industries that drive jobs and wealth in the region and which are perceived to be growing, and to look at the aspirations or planned movements of people and the reasons why they would indeed make a change. Conducting surveys such as these allows recruitment organizations such as Bayt.com and other HR professionals and industry stakeholders, to understand the drivers of industry trends in terms of their most valuable asset: their human capital," stated Bayt.com's CEO, Rabea Ataya.
The Top Industries Survey also looks, in part, at which industries are perceived to offer the best work/life balance. Surprisingly in Kuwait, banking and finance featured as the preferred choice with 39% selecting it as the most attractive industry, dispelling somewhat the popular notion that with banking comes long, unsociable hours. This was true of all the surveyed countries except for Morocco, where 32% of respondents believed that working in education and academia allows employees to have the best balance. Hand-in-hand with the banking industry as a perceived source of the best work/life balance in the Survey is the oil, gas and petrochemicals sector, which also garnered 33% of respondent's votes.
Interestingly, the study revealed that there was a close correlation between the least preferred industries and the industries that were struggling to stay financially viable. A total of 24% of respondents felt agriculture and forestry was a lagging industry, and only 2% of respondents cited it as a favorite. The same was true of the charity and voluntary sector, 11% felt it was struggling financially, with just 2% selecting it as a preferred industry.
These figures may represent a response to the popular perception that if an industry is seen to be financially deficient, then people are less likely to want to enter it. This is proven by the oil and gas sector - it is one that is seen as the most profitable and is one of the most popular choices in terms of industries to move to," said Nassim Ghrayeb, CEO YouGovSiraj.
The study additionally reveals in detail which industries people are seeking to change from, which they are changing to, and the reasons why they want to make an industry change. The majority of professionals who have changed industries - or who are planning to - would move for ''a better salary'' at 56% of all respondents, closely followed by ''better career growth'' at 52%.
The survey reveals that in Kuwait, 18% of respondents have changed industry in the past 24 months and 40% are currently considering a change in industry. The industries that professionals cite they most want to move to in Kuwait are banking and finance (17%), oil, gas and petrochemicals (16%) and telecommunications (8%). Additionally, a quarter of all respondents in Kuwait cited the government sector as an extremely favorable place to work.
Industries cited as suffering the most from shortages of skilled labor in Kuwait are healthcare and medical services (at 16% of respondents), education/ academia (14%), and construction (13%). By contrast, industries perceived as most successful in attracting international talent, not surprisingly, are the oil, gas and petrochemicals (at 34%), banking and finance (at 28%) and IT (19%).
Any organization or stakeholder within the HR spectrum, from pan-regional recruitment websites like Bayt.com, to industry professionals, private organizations or other recruitment players, can benefit from this type of highly relevant and beneficial quantitative data, in order to determine people's perceptions vis-a vis their current industry and which they perceive as preferred industries," explained Ataya.
The Bayt.com/YouGovSiraj Top Industries Survey allows for insights into what drives the movement of talent, and divulges where there may well be a talent shortfall or indeed surfeit in the near future. This can help stakeholders make decisions and implement changes today that facilitate recruiting and retaining top professionals in their industry and enables the industry leaders to make the necessary changes that will allow them to rise in the ranks of preferred industries in the future," concluded Ataya.
Data for the August/ September Bayt.com YouGovSiraj 2008 Top Industries Survey was collected online between the period of 20th August and 21st September 2008 with 2,927 respondents across the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Morocco, Jordan and Egypt. Males and females of all ages, from more than fifteen different nationalities across all industries were included in the survey.
© Kuwait Times 2008
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