Widening Gulf

The rapidly expanding building sector in the Arabian Gulf is facing severe staffing problems as too many companies compete for a limited supply of talent, according to the latest research released by GulfTalent.com, an online recruitment firm based in the Middle East.

The report was released on the opening day of the Big5 exhibition, the region's premier construction event held annually in Dubai.

Monster co-founder quits

Andrew McKelvey, co-founder of Monster Worldwide, has quit as chairman emeritus of the firm after refusing to talk to a special committee in the US probing the company's options-granting practices. McKelvey, 72, also resigned from the board of directors, the New York-based online job listings firm said. McKelvey, who helped found Monster in 1967, quit as chief executive in early October.

An industry body has hit out at a government policy to set a minimum monthly salary of $400 a month for Filipino domestic helpers, according to the Manila Times. The Federated Association of Manpower Agencies (FAME), umbrella for overseas recruitment groups, warned such a high minimum wage level could result in a slowdown. ""We cannot tell foreign employers how much they should pay the workers,"" said Eduardo Mahiyain, president of FAME. The Department of Labor and Employment and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said the policy would take effect on 16 November.

Skoda Auto, part of Germany's Volkswagen Group and the Czech Republic's biggest carmaker, will tender in spring 2007 for recruitment agencies who can find workers for its factories, Martin Jahn, the Skoda director responsible for human resources, told Czech Business Weekly.