Companies in Qatar appear to be among the most optimistic about their prospects in 2015 than firms in any other Gulf country.
Despite the fall in global oil prices, which has forced many companies in the energy sector to lay off staff or instigate recruitment freezes, Qatar businesses are collectively continuing to expand, saying they plan to hire more staff while raising salaries in an effort to complete the country’s many construction projects on time.
According to the latest edition of the annual “Employment and Salary Trends in the Gulf” report by online recruitment site GulfTalent, two-thirds (66 percent) of employers surveyed in Qatar said they planned to increase their head count in 2015.
This is the highest rate in the region, and some way ahead of Saudi Arabia, where just over half (53 percent) of employers said they plan to hire.
The comparable figures for other Gulf states were 49 percent in Oman, 47 percent in the UAE and 38 percent in both Kuwait and Bahrain.
According to GulfTalent, the hiring boom in Qatar was spurred after “the uncertainty over the World Cup (was) finally removed and major infrastructure projects (got) the go-ahead.”
Last year, the report said Qatar witnessed a slowdown in recruitment due to negative international media coverage of the country’s 2022 World Cup preparations and “internal pending reviews on the awarding of the projects.”
During 2014, Qatar’s employment growth rate appeared to be among the region’s lowest, with just 38 percent of recruiters in the state saying they were hiring. Only Bahrain was lower, at 22 percent, while nearly three-quarters of Saudi employers (72 percent) said they planned to bring in new talent that year.
Poor retention
The GulfTalent report results are based on a survey of 22,000 professionals employed by large and medium-sized firms in the GCC, as well as a survey of 600 HR managers and interviews with managers in local and international firms in the private sector. These were conducted between December 2014 and April 2015.
Its findings also include statistics from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Although Qatar is the second-most popular Gulf country for expats to work in after the UAE, it has one of the region’s lowest retention rates. This is because “the high cost of living and the ban on expatriates switching jobs prompt many to leave,” the report stated.
Figures from 2014 show that fewer than half (48 percent) of expats surveyed said they wanted to continue working in the state, compared to 88 percent of those working in the UAE and 61 percent in Kuwait. Only Oman had a worse rate than Qatar, with less than one-third (30 percent) stating they intended to remain in the country.
More money
While salaries across the region are predicted to increase this year, Qatar has the highest average forecast rises in pay of all states, at 8.3 percent.
The report attributes this to Qatar’s “rising cost of living and the need to attract talent to the country.”
While the overall cost of living in Qatar has remained relatively stable for the first few months of this year, the cost of renting residential accommodation here continues to rise at a rapid clip.
According to figures published by the Ministry of Development, Planning and Statistics (MDPS), the cost of rents, fuel and energy went up by 7.3 percent last year.
In February this year, housing, water and electricity, which makes up the largest share of most household’s expenses, went up 0.74-percent on the previous month. If rent keeps going up at the same pace for the rest of the year, tenants would face an 8.8 percent annual rise in accommodation costs.
Oman has the next highest expected pay increase of 7.2 percent, although this is driven by an increasingly unionized workforce that is demanding wage hikes, the report stated.
Across the Gulf, those working in the construction sector are likely to see the biggest bump to their wages this year, with increases forecast at 10 percent regionally, while those in logistics can expect raises of around 7.7 percent.
The oil and gas sector is at the bottom of the table in terms of pay increases, with the regional average expected to be 5.4 percent, according to the survey.
Fewer Indians
Meanwhile, the new report also found that rapid economic growth in India will likely prompt fewer nationals from there to look for jobs in the Gulf this year.
Higher salaries and more job opportunities back home mean that emigrating to the Gulf holds less appeal for some Indians, as they seek employment in their own country, the report stated.
Indians account for the largest demographic group in Qatar, which is home to some 631,000 of the country’s nationals.
The two countries have a long and evolving relationship. During the Emir’s first recent state visit to India for example, opportunities for foreign investment and trade was one of the topics of discussion.
Thoughts?
I would take any Gulf Times Survey which a pinch of salt, the O&G industry funds and feeds everything else is in Qatar, if it hits a downturn so with everything else. Even budgets for WC related projects are facing cuts. Yes more people will be recruited but on the low income side in construction for the large civil projects, people with virutally no disposable income and no impact on the local economy.
I would expect growth to be modest in the next two years in Qatar, you can even see it now with less cars on the road.
Less cars ? Where do you live in Doha ?
The Survey is not from Gulf Times. It is from the recruiting agency Gulf Talent.
Yes, sorry that is what I meant. It’s good publicity for them each year but totally worthless. If you check previous years ‘surveys’ against actual results then you will see the variance is huge.
Lets see, Qatar has imposed a 20% cut in expenditure across the board for this current financial year.
My own state run employee has lost many staff, imposed wage cuts ( ie: decreased salaries, at least for expats ) and is not hiring but actively decreasing staffing levels through the attrition of people being fed up & underpaid.
The costs of living in Qatar have risen, traffic is horrendous and accommodation is financially non-viable for many, given the high rents and willingness to have a lot of empty apartments due to not having the right sort of tenants.
If there is an increase in workers it will be in construction, low paid construction..perhaps another 400 WC stadium workers to replace the 400 so far killed.
GulfTalent is an employment agency and sounds more like a as for them than anything else.
so funny when we sit opposite the Client who knocks the inflation element out of our estimates because “there is no inflation in Qatar”. The Gulf Talent survey adds to the major cost management firms who have been predicting the same for the last three years.
It looks more like a propaganda coup of Gulf Talents to attract more customers.
Expected average payrise is 8.3 % and expected yearly rise in accommodation cost 8.8 % ( which is a conservative figure ); which will rise further as 2022 gets closer. All other figures in the article are nothing but window dressing.
My company has not raised salaries since 2009. This is the normal scenario in pvt sector. .
As an expat that must be tough.
The recruitment agencies and professionals are not unlike stockbrokers. They need high staff turnover to stay in business. Staff retention is therefore a low priority
recruitment agencies trade in human misery. They are not they to find you a job or help an employer, they are there to moneitse you.
Where this survey was conducted? Because where I work many jobs have been cut and haven’t had salary raise x 2 yrs …. supposed to be a “prestigious Engineering company” … but we are as slaves as many others. And if you ar3 wondering why I don’t quit if I’m not happy … well … there are bills to pay!
Then be happy and keep quiet. It is people like you with their stupid loans who make unscrupulous managers keen on enslaving their employees. This will be a lesson for you to live by your means or spend your life a slave, if not of your employer then of the bank.
Even without any type of loans private companies can enslave us using all the loopholes in Labour laws.
It is a completely different story and you can eventually leave if you do not like it. Here he is saying that he cannot even leave.
He put himself in this dire situation and he has only himself to blame
I don’t think you call them loopholes, it’s just the labour law!
Don’t edit your comment completely and make us look like we are commenting on a different story. You don’t seem to know the basic etiquette of commenting on DN.
As far as I can see there will be more technical jobs and less admin ones. Admin, HR, marketing and services-related tasks can be automated or offered to locals who are not highly educated. Therefore there isn’t really a need for expats to do them. That is what many companies learned recently, that is why they are trying to limit the damage, by firing expats or transferring them to other more useful departments.
‘or offered to locals who are not highly educated’
Ow, that will upset some people…. I guess you mean the locals that have low academic achivement, rather than all locals are not highly educated…
Come on the meaning is clear. That’s how we call people without a university degree. There is nothing offensive in it. And obviously it does NOT apply to all locals 🙂
not offensive at all , MIMH just being his all knowing & commenting on every thing self.
some ppl just have issues .LOL
Thanks for clarifying this 🙂
In English it could be considered offensive that statement and the majority of people on this site are not native speakers. In English it could be seen as impying that ‘not highly educated’ people are stupid.
In English we would say, ‘or offered to locals whom are not university educated’
Here is an English newspaper using the word. They did not seem to find it offensive:
“Even if not highly educated, employees generally perceive a kind of psychological contract, and if that is not fulfilled, serious unhappiness arises rapidly. ”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2896558/Why-workers-across-the-EU-are-simply-giving-up.html
Yeah I’m not sure why they’re so bothered.
You think the fact that someone doesn’t have a university degree means they are ‘uneducated’? How ridiculous. Going to high school qualifies you as being ‘educated’. In any case, you don’t need to attend University to be a success – Abraham Lincoln, David Geffen, Sir Richard Branson, Sir Alan Sugar, Andrew Carnegie, Steve Wozniak – the list of successful entrepreneurs who did not attend university is endless.
For God sake learn how to read. My point is clear and I have explained it further. I am not responsible for how you interpret my words and if you are offended it is your problem. No apologies.
I interpret your words as written. May I suggest you learn the proper use of English grammar. What you should have said in your original post was ‘Admin, HR, marketing and services-related tasks can be automated or offered to locals who do not have HIGHER education’. Your incorrect use of grammar gave the sentence a different meaning.
Thanks for kindly pointing out my mistakes. I am not a native speaker so I am afraid I do make some mistakes (if not many) when I comment. Please bear with me.
Same thing.
While living costs have grown last several yrs most private companies have not bothered to raise salaries and wait for Kafala changes to raise salary at the last moment.
When the labour laws change, still there wont be raise in salary, every one will be on streets with CVs in there hand looking for job. so Employers can get 100s of employees if you leave
………..perhaps another joke I suppose, like the ones which keep on being said every now and then
I think this must work purposely with the private employers because i
was once working in D.P.C and was being paid QR700 as my basic salary
and was very bad to feed my family and myself on so i came back to Ghana
on may 19, 2014, i contacted one of my friends there just last month
and said their salaries has been increased to QR800 as they spend 2
years now in Doha,meanwhile they feed themselves and buy gas on their
own and do you think that was a good increment? People from Ghana are
willing to work in the Gulf countries but looking at the salaries, is
not appreciative so am sending this to the Qatar government to check on
the private employers most on their salary payments. Peace.
i am from Nepal. I came in Nepal before 7 months from Qatar of cancel visa. But I worked in Qatar 7 years. I want to go Qatar again for working visa , this is possible or not ?.I m confuse about this because 2 yrs ban for visa. can u reply me ? Thanks.
Please give me the answer of my question , because i m confused about go to Qatar after 2 yrs or after six months. ? Thanks.
I wasted eight years in Doha waiting for that change to happen, the only change was more construction noise at home and more traffic congestion to work, no salary increment. My advice to those wanting to move to Doha: don’t expect a bed of roses.