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UAE-based recruitment agencies are urging redundant employees to widen their job searches to other GCC countries as new job opportunities in the real estate and construction sector decline.
Spectacular economic growth, spurred by a booming construction sector, has lured thousands of expats to the UAE for tax free salaries and year round sun.
But as the global recession starts to bite and huge construction projects are put on hold, many are looking to other Gulf countries for similar job opportunities.
“Our focus has been relocating clients from Dubai and Abu Dhabi into wider GCC and Middle East markets,” Dave Storey, director at Michael Page Middle East in Dubai told Arabian Business.
“Most expats from Dubai and Abu Dhabi are still favourable about the region and more open to moving outside of the UAE,” he added.
Employees in the construction and real estate industries, which represent two of the biggest drivers of GDP growth in the UAE, have been most affected by the downturn with many recruitment agencies reporting a 50 percent increase in candidates from within the region.
“Around 50 percent of the CVs that we are receiving are from people who have lost their job already or who are uncomfortable about their existing job,” said Mike Hynes, managing partner at Kershaw Leonard in Dubai.
A project manager for a Dubai-based construction firm, who asked not to be named, was made redundant last year, said redundant employees in construction might not have a choice but to move within the region.
“People won’t have a choice. If there’s no work in Dubai or Abu Dhabi then people will have to look at working in other countries,” he said.
In the past two months state-owned Nakheel, the developer behind the Palm islands, has laid off more than 500 workers.
Emaar has made 100 workers redundant while Tameer has reduced its staff by 180 and Omniyat Properties by 69.
