Overview:

UAE is about see a bigger drop in new jobs in the market. Because since oil prices started to decrease, job opportunities have been reduced as well. We can verify this by checking that the jobs market has fallen by 3% YOY in Q4 2015, and this trend will continue in 2016. On this article we are going to analyze this situation, and we will also include some predictions for the future of new jobs in 2016.

Analyzing:

All these observations have been brought to us thanks to Morgan McKinley’s report. In which we have found interesting discoveries and overall information which is going to bring a light on the fate of the professional recruitment market in UAE for 2016.

Q4 2015 vs. Q3 2015:

In the beginning of this article was stated that the jobs market has dropped by 3% YOY in Q4 2015. Even though this is true, the jobs market was in a better position in Q4 2015 with 7,899 jobs available, than in Q3 2015 with 7,621 jobs available — a difference of 4% between both quarters.

Regarding job seekers in Q4 2015, the number arrived till 37,999, which tells us that it has decreased by 2% YOY and 3% QOQ.

Oil Price:

Oil price is not at its best moment. It decreased by 35% in 2015 and in 2016 the price has fallen by 20%. 2016 is about to present big challenges, and we can see it if we come back to 13/01/2016 and see how the price per barrel fell to $26.19, which is considered the lowest level since April 2003. Even though oil price saw a huge increase on 22/10/2016, reaching a price of $32.19 per barrel, specialists agree that this year the jobs market will see an expansion in 2016 if oil increases till $55 per barrel. But in case it decreases to below $20, then this is going to be a very challenging year for economy in UAE. However, even in a weakened economy there’s still room for professional recruitment, because Employers will have to adapt themselves to the challenges and hard moments of 2016, which will lead to an increase in the number of jobs available.

Conclusion:

Experts say that the jobs market in Q1 2016 is going to be impacted by a new drop.  It will all be in function of oil price, and in a market as UAE any kind of turnaround is going to propagate very quickly — doesn’t matter if for better or worse.