The United Arab Emirates has established itself as the Gulf region’s most balanced labor market in 2025, according to Naukrigulf’s Year End Report. This equilibrium stems from simultaneous hiring for both scale and specialized skills, creating diverse opportunities across multiple sectors.
Construction and real estate sectors led hiring demand, closely followed by IT, telecommunications, internet services, and the oil, gas, and energy industries. This multi-sector growth has created one of the region’s most evenly distributed job markets.
The most sought-after positions included engineering, sales, and software/IT roles, with particular demand for project managers, sales executives, and customer service representatives. The report identified HVAC expertise, accounting proficiency, and customer support capabilities as critical skills that provide competitive advantages for job seekers.
GCC-wide analysis revealed traditional industries continued to dominate regional recruitment, with construction and energy sectors accounting for over 4.6 million candidate searches throughout the year. Employers across the Gulf showed heightened demand for engineering talent (850,000+ searches), sales professionals (800,000+ searches), and project management experts (775,000+ searches), reflecting the region’s execution-focused growth strategy.
Despite robust hiring activity, employees faced significant negotiation challenges. Approximately 46% of job seekers cited salary expectation mismatches as their primary obstacle, while 32% struggled with articulating their personal value proposition. Additional challenges included handling counteroffers (18%) and negotiating benefits packages (4%).
UAE professionals demonstrated evolving priorities beyond compensation, with professional development opportunities emerging as the most valued non-monetary benefit. This was followed by vacation time, comprehensive health benefits, and flexible working arrangements, indicating a growing emphasis on long-term career growth and work-life balance.
The findings are based on insights from more than 9 million hiring interactions on Naukrigulf’s platform throughout 2025, supplemented by jobseeker sentiment data collected through monthly Gulf Pulse surveys across all GCC nations.