|By Arabian Post Staff|New sectors such as privatisation, digital banking, fintech and blockchain will all become potentially important growth sectors for job creation in 2018, particularly in Dubai, according to Cooper Fitch Salary Guide for the next year.
The economic outlook for the UAE for 2018 shows some good signs of growth, in terms of the creation of new opportunities and increased headcount for the year ahead, within the sales, advisory, legal, strategy, tax, IT, and digital.
The energy sector is starting to see some very slight “green shoots” with some key hires being made, but it is still running on a minus number when it comes to salary levels. The number of new jobs coming to market was slightly higher than that of 2016 (by 1-2%).
What this means in terms of actual volume is very hard to say. Other areas such as supply chain and manufacturing have had a good 2018, with more high-end job creation that occurred last year and the same plan for the year ahead. The introduction of VAT in the UAE and across the GCC will be the single biggest job creator for the new jobs in 2018 – we are forecasting over 9,000 new jobs across the Gulf.
According to the agency, salaries will remain very flat in the property & construction,healthcare, and education industries. Cooper Fitch is predicting that salaries will rise to between 2 and 3% of current levels, dependent on predicted GDP and commodity prices as outlined. By there are significant differences in how certain sectors are forecasting recruitment activity with certain sectors likely to perform better than others, leading to corresponding salary performance.
The report stimated GDP growth of approximately 3.4% in 2018 (citing IMF forecasts) across the United Arab Emirates. With the predicted outlook for oil prices of approximately $55 per barrel as per the S&P Global rating made in November 2017, Cooper Fitch says it is optimistic about some slight improvements in salary levels and in the activity level for new jobs in the UAE for 2018. This follows the back of a more lacklustre than expected finish in 2017, which was a continuation of the 2016 trend. The key sectors of banking had a much-improved year last year in line with what we had predicted for it, but 2018 still looks very uncertain, with a considerable number of mergers planned for the next 12 months.
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