The Gulf Cooperation Council region witnessed a 40 percent rise in job creation in the last quarter of 2021 compared to the corresponding period of 2020, and hiring activity will continue to strengthen in 2022, said recruitment specialist Cooper Fitch.
Job creation across the region was driven primarily by a significant recovery in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Real estate, public, software development, cyber security, sales and marketing sectors witnessed a significant increase in hiring. Human resources, banking and digital roles also saw an increase in hiring.
In its latest Gulf Employment Index released on Monday, Cooper Fitch said the economy of the region showed signs of recovery in the second half of 2021 and this was significantly driven by rising production levels and oil prices, as well as easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
“[The] economic indicators look positive, with the [International Monetary Fund] forecasting the economic recovery for the Middle East to accelerate to 4.4 percent in 2022, after initial estimates of 3 percent were revised,” Cooper Fitch said.
Among the GCC states, Saudi Arabia topped the hiring charts at 21 percent, followed by Oman (12 percent), Kuwait (11 percent), Bahrain (9 percent) and Qatar (8 percent).
The report said the public sector registered the highest quarter-on-quarter increase in employment levels at 25 percent.
Hiring was also strong in real estate, up by 16 percent, as well as in banking (14 percent), legal private practice (9 percent), legal in-house (8 percent) and advisory (5 percent).
Cooper Fitch said it is forecasting “high single-digit” increase in job creation across each of the countries in the Gulf region in 2022.