The Bayt.com Middle East Skills Gap Survey - May 2016

In this report, Bayt.com and YouGov investigate the extent of the skills gap in different MENA countries. It describes some of the causes for the skills mismatch, and reveals what employers mean when they say job seekers are not ‘employable.’

Evidence shows that it is challenging for employers across the MENA region to find candidates with the required skills. This difficulty is accentuated when recruiting for senior positions, with seven in10 respondents (70%) claiming they find it difficult to find candidates with the required skills. The situation seems to be slightly easier when recruiting for junior positions, although49% of the employers surveyed still rate the hiring process as ‘difficult’.

The report provides a thorough investigation of the skills gap crisis in the MENA region, both from an employer’s point of view and job seeker’s point of view. The report ends with a list of solutions to help companies, education providers, governments and job seekers themselves tackle this problem in the best way possible.

Key highlights:

The job market is tough. Only2 in every10 companies surveyed are currently searching for new employees.

Even with low demand, employers are having difficulty to find candidates with the required skills. The difficulty is accentuated with senior positions, with39% of respondents claiming they find it ‘very difficult’ to find senior candidates with the required skills.

Employers are looking for soft skills. Interestingly, ‘technical skills’ were often seen as posing the least challenge, while ‘soft skills’ are regarded as most lacking.

Job seekers are more confident regarding skills, although they're having a hard time finding a job. Contrary to employer feedback, job seekers generally regard themselves as having a high degree of competency across most skills, with those seeking senior positions being more confident. Yet, half of the job seekers surveyed say it is difficult to secure a job with their current skill level.

Cited solution: Training. According to42% of respondents, the best solution to tackle the skills gap crisis is by having companies provide enough training opportunities to employees.

A total of5,345 interviews were conducted for this study. For the report, analysis was split across two main stakeholder groups, namely, those working (full-time or part-time), involved in hiring decisions for their company and whose companies are currently hiring (referred in the report as ‘Employers’), and those ‘actively’ or ‘passively’ seeking for a job (referred to in the report as ‘Job Seekers’). All interviews were conducted online via Bayt.com’s database between March3rd and March22nd,2016.62% of the respondents were GCC residents, one-quarter (27%) were from North Africa, and the remainder from the Levant (11%).