Over half of businesses in Gulf and the United Arab Emirates have recovered from the impact of COVID-19 on their operations.
Further, another 28 per cent of businesses expected to get back into pre-COVID-19 groove in the next 12 months. That adds up to nearly 80 per cent of businesses reckoning they are “back on their feet,” reports a survey conducted by the management consultancy Hays.
This could translate into better prospects for new work and employment – “Opportunities have been increasing significantly since the end of last year and sentiment is generally very positive,” says Kieran Fitzgerald, Senior Operations Director of Hays Middle East.
“Our own experiences of working with employers and job seekers certainly confirm that business activity is on an upward trajectory,” said Fitzgerald. “We saw job numbers decline across all sectors in the region from April through to late summer of 2020.”
For now, 58 per cent of employers have the same or higher than their pre-pandemic workforce numbers. But 74 per cent state they are expecting headcount increases as early as the second-half of this year.
