{"id":115603,"date":"2026-06-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/?p=115603"},"modified":"2026-06-08T05:43:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:43:59","slug":"gcc-employers-pivot-to-local-talent-pools-amid-regional-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/06\/08\/gcc-employers-pivot-to-local-talent-pools-amid-regional-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"GCC employers pivot to local talent pools amid regional uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"> <strong>Labor markets in the GCC are shifting around once again, as the regional conflict set off<\/strong><strong> a reordering of how talent is hired<\/strong>, where it\u2019s hired from, and on what terms. While it\u2019s far from an across-the-board collapse, our sources indicate there\u2019s a sharpening hierarchy, with several fault lines emerging all at once. While real estate keeps booming, for example, tourism and hospitality have been gutted. And even within resilient industries, employers are increasingly leaning towards in-country hiring, rather than importing talent from abroad. Those shifting priorities have also seeped into broader policies, including visa scrutiny. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>That dynamic is already visible in how employers are sourcing talent.<\/strong> \u201cIf there was a redirection since the conflict began, it was to hire people from within the country. So, that could have been expats or nationals, but it certainly was, \u2018Let\u2019s not try and take people from a thousand or ten thousand miles away and try and bring them here.\u2019 It was, \u2018Let\u2019s look for what we need in-country,\u2019\u201d Cooper Fitch CEO Trefor Murphy tells EnterpriseAM.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>The UAE and Saudi Arabia still have no trouble attracting high-quality talent<\/strong> \u2014 \u201cthe top 20%,\u201d as Murphy puts it \u2014 because they continue to offer safety, lifestyle, the tax-free element and opportunity. \u201cThe bit that we need to figure out is how do we get back to attracting the top 1% and top 5%. That\u2019s the bit that\u2019s a [little] unclear. That\u2019s the bit that needs a strong, permanent ceasefire to maintain [the region\u2019s] position as a true global hub for talent,\u201d Murphy says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Major changes are also expected in business strategies for the post-conflict world<\/strong>, which will be shaped in turn by how economic activity, alliances, and industrial priorities change at the national level, Zilla Capital Managing Partner Omar Shenety tells us. Altogether, what\u2019s unfolding is what he calls a \u201cparadigm shift\u201d and is expected to be as significant as changes made after disruptions such as the 1991 Gulf War and covid-19.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\">\n<p class=\"tag-border-left\">A sharp shock and a fast (albeit uneven) rebound<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>This reshaping comes as the conflict causes real and concentrated economic <\/strong><strong>contraction.<\/strong> The IMF lowered its GCC growth forecast by 2.3 percentage points to 2.0% <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/17\/the-imf-sees-uneven-post-war-recoveries-as-it-revises-mena-growth-forecasts-downward\/\" style=\"\">in April<\/a>. The pain was distributed unevenly, largely according to each state\u2019s exposure to the Strait of Hormuz and its oil reserves: Qatar was the hardest hit at an expected 8.6% contraction, while Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are all projected to hold onto growth of more than 3% despite the revisions\/<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>The labor market told a similar story of shock and snap-back.<\/strong> Cooper and Fitch\u2019s April <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/vadim-kouznetsov-5b56751a4_your-uae-job-application-is-taking-longer-share-7462107713716551681-rFuo\/\" style=\"\">Gulf<\/a><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/vadim-kouznetsov-5b56751a4_your-uae-job-application-is-taking-longer-share-7462107713716551681-rFuo\/\" style=\"\">Employment Index<\/a> contracted 12% in March, the month of peak military activity, before rebounding 13% in April as the ceasefire took hold and projects and hiring pipelines resumed. April\u2019s job growth came in level with the same month a year earlier \u2014 short of expected market momentum, but a sign that \u201cthe employment base held in a period that could have produced a significant contraction.\u201d The year had opened with 3.5% growth in January and 1.5% in February.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Beneath those aggregate numbers sits a stark divergence, as employment in anything <\/strong><strong>tied to discretionary spending flatlined across the GCC.<\/strong> \u201cAnything that\u2019s heavily laced into tourism, passenger movement, hospitality, and the niceties of life have been slowed down or stopped completely still. Those numbers are not even measuring anything; there\u2019s not a heartbeat in some of those sectors at the moment,\u201d Murphy says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Sales and marketing saw the sharpest decline in April \u2014 particularly in tourism, <\/strong><strong>hospitality and retail \u2014 after a relatively strong first quarter.<\/strong> Tourism and hospitality has been hit hardest of all, with redundancies and temporary unpaid leave orders imposed to ease the financial burden. Some hotels are weighing temporary shutdowns to refurbish while occupancy stays low.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Real estate, by contrast, posted the strongest y-o-y hiring growth<\/strong>, driven by continued project delivery and commercial activity in large-scale developments, with hiring focused on delivery, project management and commercial roles. \u201cReal estate in 1H 2025 was booming. It\u2019s booming now, it\u2019s just booming a little bit faster in April,\u201d Murphy tells us. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Finance, energy, the public sector, technology, supply chain, and legal and investments <\/strong><strong>also grew.<\/strong> \u201cBanking was tragic in 1Q 2026 because they stopped lending money and stopped doing business,\u201d Murphy notes. CEO and strategy roles held flat y-o-y, while manufacturing dipped slightly as employers prioritised execution over expansion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\">\n<p class=\"tag-border-left\">The human cost falls on the exposed<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>For workers in the wrong sector, there\u2019s already a financial toll.<\/strong> One professional at a domestic tour agency \u2014 a business that depends on group packages \u2014 disclosed that their salary had recently been slashed by half, while several colleagues were laid off entirely. Another professional working at a mid-tier consulting agency based in Dubai recounted a similar situation, with several employees laid off and many others placed on indefinite unpaid leave. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>The squeeze is also reaching people who have not even started yet<\/strong>, as the friction in key sectors trickles down into corporate onboarding pipelines. A mid-career Egyptian consultant accepted a position at Visa Inc. in Dubai, but their work visa application was rejected three times \u2014 a hurdle increasingly common as administrative scrutiny tightens. A mobility agent advised them to pause for a few months before reapplying, citing a sudden spike in identical rejections in recent weeks. Despite the administrative snags, the company has maintained its employment offer, the would-be employee stresses.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>Some withdrawals are harder to read.<\/strong> \u201cWe would have a percentage of people that would just pull out naturally anyway. And we\u2019ve had a percentage out there that just pulled out because of this particular instance,\u201d Murphy says, though whether the war has measurably accelerated that trend remains unclear.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>The reordering may not treat all nationalities the same.<\/strong> Gulf countries may introduce more stringent entry and residency conditions, dynamically adjusting immigration policy based on real-time assessments of bilateral relations shaped by the war, Shenety suggests. Whether that reshuffle will produce a direct, sector-wide cooling effect on hiring from specific countries remains to be seen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>What the war is unlikely to do, our sources say, is hand the squeeze to nationalization<\/strong><strong> agendas.<\/strong> The UAE\u2019s young (and very highly educated) national workforce does not threaten foreign talent, because nationals remain a minority of the labor force. \u201cI see no correlation between a squeeze in certain sectors and [the advancement of] nationalization,\u201d Shenety adds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\">\n<p class=\"tag-border-left\">Caution everywhere \u2014 but not collapse<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>For now, uncertainty cuts across every front, but the caution shows up most predominantly in investment decisions.<\/strong> Preliminary indicators suggest expats\u2019 willingness to buy property is set to decline, Shenety says. \u201cIf I had just bought a brand new hotel in Dubai and gone from 100% capacity to 20% or 40% capacity, and I was planning to build a second one, I probably wouldn\u2019t build the second one just yet,\u201d Murphy says. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>How quickly any of these trends reverse will depend on who is making the call.<\/strong> \u201cMultinationals or international organizations are going to be a bit slower to trust. They\u2019ll have a whole series of things that they\u2019ll want to see happening before they really start re-engaging again, whereas the local players and local businesses could move very quickly into growing quickly again,\u201d Murphy says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1.15;orphans:2;widows:2;text-align:left\"><strong>And the recovery, when it comes, could come fast.<\/strong> \u201cWhen there\u2019s a permanent ceasefire \u2014 and it\u2019s only a \u2018when\u2019 thing, it\u2019s never an \u2018if\u2019 thing \u2014 and tourists start coming back, there will be a massive flex back up, a spike back up in that market. It\u2019s a lot of short-term pain. Sometimes people will lose their jobs, but there will be opportunities here for people again,\u201d Murphy says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tighter immigration policies and corporate caution reshape the GCC job market, even as the UAE and Saudi Arabia hold onto top-tier 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within\u2026 mostly","related_issue":[115600],"teaser":"Tighter immigration policies and corporate caution reshape the GCC job market, even as the UAE and Saudi Arabia hold onto top-tier talent"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>GCC employers pivot to local talent pools amid regional uncertainty - MENA+ Edition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/06\/08\/gcc-employers-pivot-to-local-talent-pools-amid-regional-uncertainty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GCC employers pivot to local talent pools amid regional uncertainty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" 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