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Saudi Arabia, UAE record positive jobs growth

The Monster Employment Index Middle East has reported a slight decline of employment in the region. The index is a monthly gauge of online job demand 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 websites 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.

Launched in April 2011 with data collected since October 2010, the Monster Employment Index is a broad and comprehensive monthly analysis of online job demand in the Middle East conducted by Monster.com.

"The summer months typically see reduced recruitment activity around the globe which could have possibly contributed to the recent decline in the Gulf index. That said, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait have demonstrated positive growth indicating an improved jobs market in these large economies of the Middle East," said Sanjay Modi, managing director (India/Middle East/South East Asia), Monster.com.

"We saw sectors like engineering; IT and health care expand notably in the first quarter. Growth has now shifted to banking and finance as well as the more creative, advertising and marketing sectors."

Industry six-month trends: Online opportunities in May exceeded the six-month ago level in six of the 12 industries monitored by the index.

BFSI (up seven percent) was among the leading sectors in the index in terms of six-month growth rate in May.

Advertising, market research, public relations, media and entertainment (up 18 percent) led all sectors in monthly as well as six-month growth.

Oil and gas (down 31 percent) experienced the steepest medium-term drop in online opportunities among all sectors.

Engineering, construction and real estate (down six percent) saw the recruitment activity drop six percent lower than December' 10 levels.

Occupation six-month trends: Online demand for workers exceeded the December level in seven of the 11 occupational categories monitored by the index. Customer service (up 37 percent) professionals registered the most notable improvement in momentum over the past six months. Marketing and communications/arts/creative (up 16 percent) and software, hardware, telecom (up three percent) professionals saw demand slide in the last three-months while maintaining a robust six-month growth trajectory. Sales and business development (down 27 percent) registered the most dramatic downswing as demand for the group edged down for the third consecutive month in a row.

Geographic six-month Trends: Online opportunities exceeded the six-month ago level in three of seven countries monitored by the index. Saudi Arabia (up 13 percent) followed by the UAE (up six percent) led the other Middle Eastern on the six-month growth. Online recruitment activity in Egypt (down -19 percent) slid further making it a fourth consecutive month of decline.

© Arab News 2011