The number of job vacancies advertised online in the Middle East soared 29 percent in the six months to March 31, data from recruitment firm Monster Worldwide showed.
The agency’s employment index, which tracks online job ads across the region, said the highest demand stemmed from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The gas-rich emirate saw online vacancies jump 34 percent in the six-month period, followed by a 31 percent rise in Saudi Arabia and Oman.
The kingdom, the Gulf’s wealthiest state, saw a leap in demand in the engineering, real estate and construction sectors as increased state infrastructure spending trickled down to the job market.
Demand for employees in the kingdom’s retail and trade sectors tumbled nine percent while the oil and gas industry – the backbone of the Saudi economy – saw a two percent decline.
In Bahrain, the number of vacancies jumped by 14 percent, a sign recent civil unrest in the country has taken a toll on employee retention levels.
The UAE, the second wealthiest Gulf state, saw a modest two percent rise in job vacancies over the six month period, driven by demand for candidates in the advertising, media and entertainment industries, the report said.
Unemployment rates have been widely cited as a trigger factor in the civil unrest sweeping parts of the Gulf. A poll last month by Bayt.com revealed nearly half of people in the region blame their government for a stagnant jobs market.
The unemployment rate in the GCC was forecast to rise to 10.5 percent in 2010, according to a report published last year by recruitment company TalentRepublic.net, rising from 8.8 percent in 2009.
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