Online job adverts have observed a 15 percent decline on an annual basis in the MENA region, as employers have been posting fewer positions online, according to the Monster Employment Index Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, however, saw a three-percent rise in online recruitment activity thanks to a 34 percent increase in the oil and gas sector, followed by education with an increase of 13 percent.

“The Saudi job market has been very stable because of the stronger economy, even during the global crunch,” says Muhammad Aamer Klasson, recruitment consultant at Saudi Networkers Services (SNS). “The dominance of recruitment in the energy/oil and gas and education sectors is purely because of the stability of these sectors and the fragility of others, including the IT, telecom, construction, finance and FMCG sectors. The major strength of oil and gas lies in the fact that it is the backbone of the Kingdom’s economy and a lifeline for global users.”

Klasson says that the rise in education-related recruitment is purely because of the government’s commitment to revolutionize the sector. “We have seen many state-of-the-art institutions, colleges and universities being built all over the Kingdom. These world-class education institutions have resulted in an increase in recruitment activity in Saudi Arabia."

The UAE faced the biggest fall in the region at 31 percent, according to the index. The customer service sector in the UAE recorded a 46-percent fall in job opportunities and the production and manufacturing sectors were also prone to deceleration.

The index measures online job postings on a monthly basis after monitoring the analysis of a number of job websites and career vacancy postings by employers in the region.

A major downturn was noticed in the engineering, retail and manufacturing sectors, mainly the manufacturing sector with a 34 percent decrease, while the health care, education, communications and hospitality sectors showed effective progress. Consumer goods, IT, chemicals and telecoms sectors came under average rating.

According to The Monster Employment Index Middle East, Egypt ranked highest among all countries in the annual growth of online job postings with a 17 percent increase from last year.

"Owing to the global business scenarios, employers in the Middle East continue to adopt a cautious approach in hiring," said Sanjay Modi, managing director of monster.com India, Middle East and South East Asia."This is reflective in the double-digit drop in the Monster Employment Index."

Qatar bagged second place with its sustained financial affluence, resulting in an 11 percent climb in job postings, followed by Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. A decline was witnessed in Oman and Kuwait too.

Although some countries around the world are benefiting from development in their financial system, many are still fraught to evoke the levels of activity achieved ahead of the global financial crisis.

Figures as of 2012 show that there was a 5.5 percent unemployment rate in Saudi Arabia within the total Saudi labor force, resulting in at least 300,000 unemployed people in the Kingdom.

Statistics from the International Labor Organization stated that the global unemployment rate last year reached 6 percent, predicting that there will be 202 million jobless people in the world by the end of this year.