UAE jobs: Businesses were back to hiring at fastest pace in months: S&P

Dubai: UAE businesses went back into a hiring spree in April, with job gains recording its 'sharpest' increase in 11 months, according to the latest Standard & Poor Global's PMI data.

This will come as a major shot of confidence for jobseekers because April's hiring represents a reversal from a 'relatively subdued period of job creation'. And more so, since the final quarter of last year.

Businesses were hiring because they needed to to clear higher workloads, which has been going up since early 2024.

"The latest figures showed the rate of backlog accumulation easing to a six-month low, albeit remaining steep overall," the S&P report notes, adding that transaction delays were hampering work.

According to industry sources, the industrial and light industrial sectors were in fairly active hiring mode. The same trends are seen in the construction sector too. It remains to be seen whether the increased pace of hiring will extend to the coming months before the typical slowness during peak summer.

“The April PMI results signaled a notable uptick in hiring activity across the non-oil private sector,” said David Owen, Senior Analyst at S&P Global Market.

“Firms signaled this was mainly done as part of efforts to reduce their backlogs, which rose sharply but at the softest pace in six months. That said, employment growth was still modest overall, adding to suggestions that some firms may be struggling to recruit.”

What will most please UAE businesses is the rise in new orders, even with the perpetual noise around US tariffs and worries about a global recession playing in the background. New orders accelerated over March levels, and if businesses can sustain the momentum, that should be enough for a fairly strong H1-2025.

The April PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) score remained at 54, signaling the upbeat growth conditions in the market. (The PMI reading is based on dynamics such as new business orders, hiring trends, cost of operations, etc.. Any reading above 50 is a sign of an economy in health.)

“(UAE) firms are also hopeful that elevated demand levels and strong pipelines, as characterised by steeply rising backlogs, should propel activity higher in the coming months," the S&P report notes.