Doha and Dubai have topped a list of the world’s most competitive job markets, recording the highest number of candidates on average applying for new roles within a week of a listing being posted on professional networking site LinkedIn, according to a report by online CV builder Resume.io.
Rounding off the top five most competitive job markets was Istanbul in Turkey, Johannesburg in South Africa and Abu Dhabi, Resume.io said in the report, which tracked job applications in February in 130 cities and every state in the US.
In Doha, the average local LinkedIn job posting receives 399 applications. The city's popularity with jobseekers was probably driven by the 2022 Fifa World Cup and no income tax, Resume.io said.
Dubai is the second-most competitive job market with an average of 282.9 applicants, followed by Istanbul with 168.3 people competing for the same role, Johannesburg with 160.2 and Abu Dhabi with 148.8.
“Back in 2018, the average job applicant was already up against fewer than 50 competitors,” Resume.io said in the report.
“Nowadays, however, with the post-pandemic Great Resignation trend still looming large in the world of work, employers have [as Forbes puts it] ‘countless candidates to choose from’.”
The Great Resignation refers to the millions of workers in advanced economies who are resigning from their jobs to seek a more flexible work-life balance and higher salaries after working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the US alone, about 4.2 million Americans quit their jobs for better working conditions and wages in 2022, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics said in November.
In January, the International Labour Organisation said it expected global employment growth to slow to 1 per cent in 2023, down from 2 per cent last year.
The number of jobless people globally was also expected to rise by three million to 208 million this year, the ILO said in its annual World Employment and Social Outlook Trends report.
“Emerging geopolitical tensions, the Ukraine conflict, an uneven recovery from the pandemic and continuing bottlenecks in supply chains have created the conditions for a stagflationary episode, the first period of simultaneously high inflation and low growth since the 1970s,” it said in the report.
“Most countries have not yet returned to the levels of employment and hours worked seen at the end of 2019, before the outbreak of the Covid-19 health crisis.”
Meanwhile, Illinois has the most competitive job market of any US state, with 60.6 applicants per job posting within one week, while San Jose, in California, outranks all US cities with 107.6 applicants.
Better known as Silicon Valley, San Jose is home to some of the world’s biggest technology companies, including Meta Platforms, Apple, Nvidea, Google parent Alphabet and PayPal.
Global mass layoffs and hiring freezes in the technology sector resulted in more than 164,709 workers being laid off in 2022 alone, while 210,269 technology employees have lost their jobs in 2023, according to layoffs.fyi, which has been tracking technology sector job losses since the beginning of the pandemic.
“Job hunters with their hearts set on sunny San Jose might be drawn by the high average salary – but as Silicon Valley’s unofficial capital, it’s also likely that competition is so fierce because local job hunters were affected by mass tech company layoffs in late 2022,” Resume.io said.
“Industry jobs were suddenly scarce: In the San Jose metro area alone, software-related and IT job listings respectively plummeted 45 per cent and 37 per cent from before the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Despite the global economic uncertainty, the jobs market in the UAE, the second-largest Arab economy, has recovered strongly from the pandemic-induced slowdown on the back of the government’s fiscal and monetary measures.
The UAE has also undertaken several economic, legal and social reforms to strengthen its business environment, increase foreign direct investment, attract skilled workers and provide incentives to companies to set up or expand their operations.
On Monday, a survey by jobs portal Bayt.com and market research company YouGov found that 91 per cent of professionals in the UAE were optimistic about their future success in the workplace, saying they have the skills to adapt to the evolving job market over the next decade.
“It’s likely that many job hunters with Dubai in their sights have got the memo that employees here, like Doha, can take home their entire salary thanks to no income taxation,” Resume.io said.
Top 10 most competitive job markets in the world
- Doha, Qatar
- Dubai, UAE
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Johannesburg, South Africa
- Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Madrid, Spain
- San Jose, California
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- San Francisco, California
- Tel Aviv, Israel
The End of Loneliness
Benedict Wells
Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins
Sceptre
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
if you go
The flights
Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes.
When to visit
March-May and September-November
Visas
Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.
