- 18% increase in jobs across professional services in Middle East
- Recruitment firm Robert Walters report +24% increase in Net Fee income in Middle East for Q1
- 54% increase in Banking, 20% increase in tech, and 10% increase in HR roles in ME
The Middle East job market has shown a positive trend in the first quarter of 2023 – with job growth across head office roles increasing by 18% on the same quarter in 2022.
The report – from leading international recruitment agency Robert Walters – highlights how the Middle East is bucking the global trend of a slowdown in hiring, with the hiring firm reporting a +24% increase in net fee income in the Middle East, bucking the global trend for the recruitment market.
The report states that the banking & financial services industry has seen the highest growth – with a 54% increase in job vacancies compared to the same period in 2022. This has been followed by the technology and HR industries, which have seen a 20% and 10% increase in job vacancies, respectively.
Jason Grundy – Managing Director of Robert Walters Middle East & Africa, comments:
“The economic stability and strength of the Middle East has meant that investment into the region had continued unabated and with that almost all countries – Dubai in particular – has continued to surge economically.
“With all the new projects and initiatives planned, the forecast is that Dubai will see the size of its economy double over the next 10 years – with the private sector growing ever larger.
“Looking to other countries, Saudi has announced a free zone policy of their own – to match that of Dubai – in order to stimulate investment. This already is accelerating the transformation of Saudi Arabia to a post oil economy.
“All of these positive market factors is having an equally positive impact on professionals – with an increase in relaxing laws & visa requirements, as well as attractive compensation packages all acting as positive drivers to expat talent.”
Banking holds firm
Job vacancies in banking and financial services across the Middle East has continued to increase in volume in 2023 – with vacancies up 20% on the 2022 monthly average.
There were more vacancies in Q1 2023 than at any other business quarter over the period. Q1 2023 was 4.5% higher than Q4 2022, and was 54% higher than the same quarter last year (Jan-Mar 2022).
Risk & Compliance is the leading area being recruited for, with vacancies up +27.6% up on the 2022 average. The largest increase – however – has been for investment management roles, with vacancies up +30%.
Jason adds: “What is interesting to see is that banking operations has only seen an increase of +3% – with the increasing role of technology in banks clearly having some influence here.”
In fact within banks, tech now makes up almost a third of all new vacancies creating – with development (+14%), IT management (+11.48%), and IT analyst (+10.76%) roles all increasing in demand.
Technology bounces back
It appears that no countries tech market has been able to escape the shockwaves felt by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and the mass layoffs and the sectors leading firms.
Whilst hiring was muted for the first quarter, we have seen some bounce back – with vacancies increasing by 12%, a lot of which has been as a result of the activity in Saudi Arabia.
Testament to the wealth of new projects that is coming about across the Middle East, demand for IT project management professionals has increased by +60% – whilst the next highest role in demand is software development, making up 9% of all tech vacancies.
Jason adds: “There’s a new entrepreneurial energy across the MENA region, accelerated by the rise of sovereign wealth funds as major investors and growing smartphone penetration. This, coupled with government mandates to grow tech ecosystems and intense competition to attract entrepreneurs feels like the perfect formula for robust growth over the coming years.”
HR rises in importance
Vacancies for HR professionals have increased in Q1 compared to 2022, with volumes up 38.7% on the monthly average from last year.
March was the record month for vacancies over the period resulting in Q1 having 4.4% more vacancies than Q4 2022.
Internal recruitment is the single largest function, with vacancies up 25% on the 2022 monthly average. General HR is the second largest area, where between the two they make up nearly half of all HR vacancies.
Jason comments: “Central to the growth of the Middle East is the talent – and HR has become a core function of any company that is looking to attract and retain talent through the development of a positive, progressive and inclusive workplace environment.”
