Construction industry drives Mideast job creation – poll
Survey finds 35% of respondents expect construction industry to offer most new jobs, due to impact of Expo 2020 and 2022 World Cup
The construction sector will be a major driver of job creation in the UAE and wider Middle East over the next few months, a poll has found.
The latest NaukriGulf Hiring Outlook survey, which polled 140 recruiters and employers in September 2015, found that 35% of respondents expected the construction industry to offer most new jobs.
Despite the decline in oil prices hurting bottom lines and slowing the recruitment activity in certain industries, Tarun Aggarwal, business head at Naukrigulf.com said companies in the construction sector were still adding more jobs thanks to the impetus provided by Expo 2020 in the UAE.
“With the recent decline in oil prices, oil and gas and related sectors are expected to see a dip in the creation of new jobs. However, construction and allied sectors continue to grow, given the build-up towards Expo 2020 in UAE, the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and increased focus on infrastructure development,” Aggarwal said.
“The overall economic outlook, hence, remains largely positive.”
The wider survey found that 49% of companies said they planned to hire for new positions, with 90% responding that they intended to hire in general, or for existing vacant positions.
Around 58% of recruiters in the region said they expected new vacancies to be announced in the next six to eight months, with most new positions targeted at candidates with three to eight years of work experience.
And 44% of respondents added that they expected new jobs to be created for middle management positions, while 25% said new jobs would be created at senior management levels.
Respondents also said they expected to see fewer people quitting their jobs, with 84% of employers stating that they were “enjoying” low attrition rates of less than 15%.
