Dubai workers find their careers prospects have stalled as dwindling margins force firms to put a freeze on all hiring
Companies across the UAE, especially in Dubai, are holding back on hiring as they ride out a global economic crisis, recruitment executives have revealed.
For years, Dubai has attracted foreign talent with promises of tax-free salaries and access to freehold property ownership. But as companies in the emirate rethink expansion projects in the wake of a global economic slowdown, some property firms are laying off staff, while companies in other sectors are reluctant to take more people on.
"We have seen a propensity among employers to delay recruitment," Rabea Ataya, chief executive at regional recruitment web site Bayt.com, told Reuters.
"Everyone is adopting a wait-and-see attitude. The economy here is so closely intertwined, when any part of the economy experiences a hiccup others want to wait and see how it will affect them."
Like elsewhere in the region, Dubai's economy has been surging on six years of high oil prices.
Residential property prices in the emirate jumped more than 30 per cent this year alone, according to analysts in a Reuters poll in August.
But with analysts expecting a correction in house prices, companies are slowing down some property and tourism projects, recruiters said.
"In real estate, if you look at large clients of ours like Nakheel or Emaar, they're not hiring at all, they are reducing some of their staff," said Mike Hynes, managing partner at Dubai-based recruitment firm Kershaw Leonard.
Still, new jobs in construction, information technology and retail are "booming", Hynes said.
"We are seeing the same number of jobs coming through the door."
Recruiters said employers cannot afford to take risks as multinational firms freeze hiring globally and local companies stand by to watch how the fallout of the global financial turmoil will play out in the region.
"There is a decline in jobs. I think it's cautiousness at this stage," said Ahmad Waarie, general manager for Watson Wyatt in Dubai, a consultancy firm that provides human resources advice to about 750 Gulf companies.
"In the real estate sector, it is really obvious. There are layoffs. Dubai is typically the fastest to react so we are seeing more across Dubai - but it is also leading the way for the Gulf."
Private developer Damac Holding said last week it was cutting 200 jobs while Emaar Properties, the UAE's largest publicly traded developer, said it was also reviewing its jobs policy.
There were even reports of Emirates NBD halting retail lending to foreigners employed by top Dubai property firms on fears that a slowdown could jeopardise their jobs and income - though these claims were denied.
In hospitality, a study released this week by new portal Hozpitality.com revealed that the regional industry may need more than two million extra staff by 2020 to sustain growth, "in the wake of dwindling staff flow from traditional markets like India and South East Asia."
But 7DAYS has learnt that at least one major leisure complex in Dubai has put a freeze on recruitment of late following a sharp fall in profits.
It all comes down to the old complaint about not being able to attract workers with the right skills.
But, for the local banking industry at least, finding qualified staff is not a problem at the moment. The slowdown comes as all recruitment firms continue to be bombarded with new job applications from bankers hoping to escape the West as the credit crisis forces big-name investment banks to slash jobs.
Bayt.com, where 2.5 million jobseekers have posted CVs, received about 150,000 to 160,000 new CVs in each of the last two months - double levels in earlier months, Ataya claimed.
About 7,000 jobs are advertised on the web site, he said.
Given the job market squeeze, firms with the appetite to hire can attract top executives with 25 per cent lower compensation than they could six months ago, Waarie added, though exchange rates have improved by around the same amount over that period for many expatriates sending money home.
"How often would you see CVs from global heads of banks like Goldman Sachs? Not very often - that sends a signal," Waarie said.
© 7Days 2008
