While recruitment activity increases in the UAE and the Middle East, the region’s banking and finance sector is most bullish on hiring, according to Lama Ataya, chief marketing officer at jobsite Bayt.com.

Ataya told news website Emirates 24|7: “Industries that are attracting/retaining the top talent in the UAE [are] banking and finance.

“[Banking and finance] ranked first with 41% of votes, according to [our] recent Middle East Job Index Survey, followed by construction (32%), oil, gas and petrochemicals (31%), telecommunications (30%), and tourism and hospitality (26%).

“Medical/health services (17%), electronics (18%), IT (20%), advertising and consumer goods (23%) turned out to be the industries that least attract or retain top talents in the UAE.”