Bayt.Com Reveals the Top Industries for Job Seekers in the UAE

Bayt.com – the Middle East’s #1 job site – and YouGov released the “Top Industries in the Middle East and North Africa” survey. According to the survey, UAE respondents claim that the industries with best career growth prospects are currently: "Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals" (24%), “IT/Internet/E-commerce” (18%), and “Real Estate/ Construction / Property Development (14%).

The industries most attractive to women according to UAE job seekers are “Education/Academia” (according to 24%), “Healthcare” (24%), “Human Resources” (21%), and “Hospitality” (20%). Meanwhile, “Banking/Finance” (according to 19%), “IT/Internet/E-commerce” (18%), and “Advertising/Marketing” (11%) are perceived to hire the highest proportion of fresh graduates. Further, the industries with the most competitive packages are perceived to be “Military/ Defence/ Police” (according to 40%), followed by “Engineering/Design”, “Automotive”, and “HR”.

Omar Tahboub, General Manager at Bayt.com says: “Our latest research is aimed at understanding job seeker preferences and satisfaction levels with various industries on attributes including salary and benefits, work-life balance, career growth, and job security. We also identify which industries are perceived to perform best to make professionals’ job search easier. When it comes to attracting and retaining top talent, this data is also useful for recruiters as employers need to understand what employees really want from a company.”

Another major finding of the survey is that almost a quarter of UAE respondents have changed their industry at least once in the past two years. For those who have changed industries, some of the common reasons were: "to fulfil my life's ambition" (31%), "better career growth opportunities" (31%), and "new industry offered opportunity to stay close to my family" (28%).

More than half of the respondents in the UAE (58%) are considering an industry change in the next few months. The top 3 reasons for considering industry change are "better salary" (49%), “better career growth “(44%), and “better work-life balance” (32%).

Zafar Shah, Research Director, Data Services at YouGov MENA said, “In order to learn the best ways to attract and recruit professionals, you should first understand which industries they’re moving to, which they’re leaving from, and why. The 2019 Bayt.com Top Industries in the MENA survey provides a deep dive into the factors influencing industry attractiveness. This helps recruiters to better appeal to professionals and optimizes their hiring efforts.”

Data for the 2019 Bayt.com Top Industries in the MENA survey was collected online from 8th August 2019 to 15th September 2019. Results are based on a sample of 3,525 respondents from the following countries: UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, and others.