Monster Employment Index grows 29% on annual basis

The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.

"The Monster Employment Index Middle East shows regional employers are extending a long-term escalation in online recruitment activity. Sectors like BFSI, Education, Healthcare continue to drive growth in major economies like KSA, UAE and Kuwait with each of them recording double-digit annual growth in the Index," said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director, Monster.com (India/Middle East/South East Asia).

Industry Year-over-Year Trends:

Online opportunities exceeded January'11 level in 10 of 12 industry sectors monitored by the index.

• BFSI (up 52%) was the fastest moving sector by the way of longer-term growth as employers continued to hire the third consecutive month

• Education (up 45%) and Healthcare (up 27%) remained amidst the top growth sectors in January

• Advertising, Market Research, Public Relations, Media and Entertainment (up 33%) exhibited reasonably improved hiring trends over January'11.

• Growth momentum in Oil and Gas (down 19%) headed further downward

Occupation Year-over-Year Trends:

10 of the 11 occupation groups experienced improved online demand over the year

• HR & Admin. (up 55%) professionals witnessed fastest growth in demand between January'11 and January'12

• Health Care (up 40%); and Finance and Account (up 31%) continued to remain among the top trending occupations

• Legal (down 15%) professional registered the most significant month-on-month as well as year-over-year decline

Geographic Year-over-year Trends: Online opportunities exceeded January'11 level in five of the seven countries monitored by the Index.

• Kuwait (up 39%) followed by KSA (up 36%) led all countries in annual growth.

• Oman (down 10%) recorded the most notable drop in online recruitment activity between January'11 and January'12

KSA Highlights

• KSA registers 36% year-on-year growth
• Advertising, Market Research, Public Relations, Media and Entertainment continues to lead all sectors in the annual growth
• Sales and BD followed by HR & Admin. record the strongest annual growth in demand among occupations.

UAE Highlights

• UAE registers 24% annual growth in January'12
• IT and Telecom/ISP tops the annual growth chart amongst industry sectors
• Purchase / Logistics / Supply Chain leads in annual growth among occupational groups.