81% of Middle East job seekers think market will get better – survey

Fourth fifths of people in the Middle East are positive that the job market will get better in the next six months, according to a survey by recruitment firm Michael Page.

The company found that 81 per cent of job applicants on its website were positive of the future market compared to 68 per cent that were positive about the current market situation.

However, 62 per cent believed the oil price had a neutral to extremely negative impact on their activities, suggesting some concerns.

Of the regional respondents, 65 per cent were found to be living in the Middle east for career perspectives, 51 per cent for the higher income and 41 per cent for the standard of living.

More than four fifths (83 per cent) were degree educated an 67 per cnet had more than five years of work experience.

Nearly seven in 10 (68 per cent) said they would ideally stay in their current country of residence for five years.

Applicants said they were looking for a new job for a better salary (47 per cent), to develop new skills (44 per cent), for better work life balance (39 per cent) and a career change (38 per cent).

The Michael Page survey follows another study of CEOs and executive managers released by job site GulfTalent lastmonth.

This found that respondents expected the overall Gulf Cooperation Council job market to grow at an average rate of 9 per cent this year, but shrink in Saudi Arabia.

Read: Saudi job market to shrink in 2018