The majority of UAE residents believe there will be better job growth opportunities in the next six months and business conditions will pick up next year, according to respondents to a survey conducted by online job website bayt.com and research company YouGov.
Fifty-three per cent of respondents to the survey, conducted in August, said career growth opportunities will get better in the next six months, 35 per cent said they would remain the same and 12 per cent said they would get worse, according to the Middle East Job Seeker Confidence Survey.
Nearly three quarters said business conditions will improve next year, 17 per cent said they would remain the same and 9 per cent said they could get worse.
Also 47 per cent of respondents also expected better compensation, 38 per cent expect their compensation to remain the same and 15 per cent said it could get worse.
With regards to training and professional development, half of respondents said they were satisfied while 19 per cent were neutral.
In terms of work-life balance, 48 per cent of UAE respondents said they were satisfied, while 24 per cent were neutral.
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The findings of the survey are broadly in line with other regional polls.
Hiring across the Arabian Gulf is forecast to pick up this year following sharp headcount reductions last year, although salaries for existing staff are predicted to remain largely unchanged, according to a survey by recruitment agency Hays published in January.
Hays' survey of 250 regional employers found that 72 per cent planned to recruit additional staff by the end of the year, with only 37 per cent hiring in 2016. The survey, which also included 2,500 employees, was conducted in the fourth quarter of last year.
Thirty-seven per cent of respondents reported a headcount reduction during 2016, compared with 17 per cent in 2015.
Better job prospects in the UAE and the wider region follow a challenging year marked by job cuts and cost-cutting from firms grappling with an economic slowdown sparked by lower oil prices.
In the UAE, the recovery of oil prices this year and ongoing economic diversification efforts are helping to drive confidence in future growth.
The pace of recovery in the country's non-oil sector accelerated in August, with the non-oil private sector economy growing at its the fastest pace in 30 months, according to Emirates NBD's monthly PMI survey, with a "sharp expansion" in new orders and output reported.
The survey, a key gauge of the non-oil sector's health, rose to 57.3 in August from 56 in July, following a record increase in company inventories – the largest in the survey's history.
A reading of above 50 on the Emirates NBD PMI gauge, compiled in conjunction with IHS Markit, indicates growth in the country's non-oil economy, while a figure below 50 indicates a contraction.
