Key messages

1. Unlike global trends, there is a large gap in technological adoption in the Arab region. This is reflected in the high demand for traditional skills in 1.7 million jobs. Communication is the most demanded soft skill. As the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated, communication is a cornerstone of new work. Despite its importance, communication did not make it to the list of globally most demanded skills list in 2021.

Business administration skills and consumer based skills such as Accounting is the most in-demand hard skills across the Arab region. For example, even though accounting is a skill that may be automated in the near future, it is still in-demand in the Arab region. This is not surprising given that most jobs in the region are in the services sector, and accounting as a skill and occupation is traditionally cross-cutting in most professions.

Figure 1.  Top 10 demanded soft skills in the Arab region

A bar chart showing top 10 demanded soft skills in the Arab region. Communications 318k. Sales 245k. Management 216k. English Language 152k. Planning 121k. Operations 116k. Arabic Language 111k. Problem Solving 86k. Leadership 83k. Customer Service 75k.

Source: ESCWA calculations based on the ESCWA Skills Monitor.

Figure 2.  Top 10 demanded hard skills in the Arab region

Bar chart showing top 10 demanded hard skills in the Arab region. Accounting 107k. Finance 54k. Selling Techniques 40k. Business Development 37k. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 37k. Auditing 32k. Financial Statements 28k. Customer Satisfaction 28k. Purchasing 26k. Strategic Planning 25k.

Source: ESCWA calculations based on the ESCWA Skills Monitor.

2. The abrupt closure of several workplaces as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic did not accelerate the adoption of teleworking in the Arab region to match global trends. Although COVID-19 has accelerated work-from-home transitions and acted as a catalyst to a long-overdue shift in work modalities worldwide, in the Arab region almost 55 per cent of Arab employees work in sectors that have low potential for remote work. An investigation was conducted of jobs tracked by the ESCWA Skills Monitor from June 2020 to March 2022 which found that telecommuting trends were not popular across many occupations especially in labour intensive sectors, such as the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sector, and the tourism sector.

Figure 3.  Covid-19 waves and online openings for remote work

Covid-19 waves and online openings for remote work. Remote work percentages are as follows: 2.20% in June 2020. 0.82% in July 2020. 2.96% in August 2020. 0.50% in September 2020. 4.39% in October 2020. 3.17% in November 2020. 2.23% in December 2020. 2.02% in January 2021. 0.40% in February 2021. 2.35% in March 2021. 0.33% in April 2021. 1.13% in May 2021. 0.67% in June 2021. 0.72% in July 2021. 0.46% in August 2021. 0.01% in September 2021. 0.01% in October 2021. 0.01% in November 2021. 0.01% in December 2021. Lockdown percentages are as follows: 65% in June 2020. 50% in July 2020. 40% in August 2020. 40% in September 2020. 40% in October 2020. 25% in November 2020. 30% in December 2020. 40% in January 2021. 55% in February 2021. 65% in March 2021. 60% in April 2021. 55% in May 2021. 40% in June 2021. 30% in July 2021. 15% in August 2021. 10% in September 2021. 5% in October 2021. 5% in November 2021. 10% in December 2021.

Source: ESCWA calculations based on the ESCWA Skills Monitor.

Note: The dotted line represents the percentage of countries in the Arab region having a complete lockdown for at least two weeks.

3. Based on a country pilot exercise, people in Lebanon accumulated only a small portion of the skills demanded by the market after being given the option to upskill without policy guidance. Reskilling and upskilling guidance in the Arab region has an important role to play, given the large gap between attained skills and those required in the job market. To estimate this gap, ESCWA piloted a field study in partnership with the Lebanese Ministry of Labour, and launched an initiative ("لأنّ العلم مفتاح العمل، #لازم_نتعلّم") which offered Lebanese citizens with the chance to choose, free-of-charge, from over 3,000 online training courses on the e-learning platform Coursera. Taking the 260 most demanded skills in the Lebanese market, Coursera applicants accumulated 42 per cent of these skills in addition to their baseline skillset. Only about 1,000 Coursera applicants gained the 10 most demanded skills.

4. Many job advertisements explicitly or implicitly target a specific gender for a job opening. However, the needed skills in these job advertisements are gender neutral by definition. According to the ESCWA Skills Monitor, nearly 55 per cent of online job openings in the Arab region target males, whether explicitly or implicitly, while 32 per cent target females only and 12 per cent are gender neutral. However, the Arab job market demands soft and hard skills almost equally from both men and women. The ratio of demanded soft skills to demanded hard skills is 63 per cent for men and 61 per cent for women. 8 of the top 10 soft skills, and 5 of the top 10 hard skills are common between male-targeted and female-targeted jobs.

Figure 4.  Top 10 demanded hard and soft skills for female jobs vs. male jobs

Radar charts that show the top 10 demanded hard and soft skills for female jobs versus male jobs. Top 10 hard skills for female-targeted jobs: accounting 15826, finance 11592, restaurant operation 11441, selling techniques 10124, customer satisfaction 9286, safety training 7688, business development 7384, key performance indicators (KPIs) 7300, purchasing 6323, procurement 6231. Top 10 soft skills for female-targeted jobs: communications 79442, management 51496, sales 49647, English language 40115, Arabic language 29357, planning 27290, operations 27079, customer service 20841, problem solving 19152, innovation 18589. Top 10 hard skills for male-targeted jobs: accounting 43935, finance 29887, key performance indicators (KPIs) 25116, business development 22124, auditing 20785, data analysis 19414, selling techniques 19368, financial statements 18081, strategic planning 16638, project management 15753. Top 10 soft skills for male-targeted jobs: communications 149926, management 119858, sales 103972, operations 68319, planning 67150, leadership 63189, English language 60204, problem solving 49503, Arabic language 43571, presentations 41417.

Source: ESCWA calculations based on the ESCWA Skills Monitor.

5. Most in-demand female-targeted job openings are in entry-level jobs, while the lowest share of jobs targeting women are in management and senior-level positions, even though more senior jobs have more flexible work modalities. The share of entry-level jobs demanded is larger for females (55 per cent) than males (42 per cent) in female- and male-targeted jobs. However, the opposite is true for senior-level positions: almost 16 per cent of online advertised jobs for senior-level positions only target men, compared with only 10 per cent that exclusively target women. Consequently, it could be inferred that while women are more likely to be hired in entry-level positions, they are less likely to reach senior management positions.

Figure 5.  Career-level distribution of online job openings by gender

Career-level distribution of online job openings by gender. Male: entry level 41.9%, junior level 26.4%, mid level 16.0%, senior level 15.7%. Female: entry level 55.1%, junior level 24.0%, mid level 11.4%, senior level 9.5%. Neutral: entry level 62.8%, junior level 20.5%, mid level 8.4%, senior level 8.3%.

Source: ESCWA calculations based on the ESCWA Skills Monitor.

6. Job openings in the Arab region are inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities; however, no job openings target persons with disability. Moreover, there is no evidence that most jobs can accommodate persons with disabilities. E-accessibility scores were computed for the first 54 scraped hubs in the ESCWA Skills Monitor. Results indicate that out of the five job hubs from which most job postings were extracted (Tanqeeb, Waseet, GCC walkins, Wuzzuf, and Energy Jobline), four job hubs have e-accessibility scores equal to or greater than 94 per cent.

Figure 6.  E-accessibility score for persons with disabilities by job hub

E-accessibility score for persons with disabilities by job hub. Doha careers 1. Joblum 1. Alshayagroup 0.9. Dubaijobs 0.9. Fifteenthousandjobs 0.88. Gulgjobvacancycom 0.88. Kuwaitjobs 0.81. Naukri 0.81. Teachaway 0.81. Theguardian 0.8. Ngosjobsblids 0.77. Gulfcareers 0.75. Energyjobline 0.72. Jobzaty 0.72. Amitojobs 0.7. Monstergulf 0.7. Postjobfree 0.7. Globalhealthjobs 0.66. NCCIraq 0.66. Abkry 0.63. Careerdubai 0.63. Intjobs 0.63. Kurdistanjob 0.63. Laimoon 0.63. Jobsandblogs 0.6. Jobsinsudan 0.6. Babjameeljobs 0.54. GCCwalkins 0.54. Jummasouq 0.54. Mackenziejones 0.54. NGOJIA 0.54. Tanqeeb 0.54. Jobzella 0.5. Keepjob 0.5. Talentshunt 0.5. Akhtaboot 0.45. Forst3aml 0.45. Gulftalent 0.45. Jobiano 0.45. Kuwaitjobs1 0.45. Kuwaitjobshere 0.45. Sevenjobtalk 0.45. Ta3mal 0.45. Vivadoo 0.45. Aamal 0.4. Hirelebanese 0.4. Huntinglebanese 0.4. Sudancareers 0.4. Academicpositions 0.36. Orooma 0.36. Arabjobs 0.27. Jobsinyemen 0.27. Rekrute 0.27.

Source: ESCWA calculations based on the ESCWA Skills Monitor. 

Note: The e-accessibility score evaluates the ease with which persons with disabilities can use the Internet and information technologies. 

7. Skills in online job openings in the region consider SDGs related to sustainable cities and communities; quality education; reduced inequalities; and good health and well-being. Advertised jobs target all SDGs; however, such targeting was disproportionate reflecting distinct private-sector priorities compared with regional ones. SDG 11, on sustainable cities and communities, is the most referenced SDG, with 38.17 per cent of collected online job openings containing keywords that can be attributed to sustainable cities and communities. This is followed by SDGs 4, 10 and 3.

Figure 7.  Percentage of online job openings targeting each SDG in the Arab region

Percentage of online job openings targeting each SDG in the Arab region. SDG 11 sustainable cities and communities 38.17%. SDG 4 quality education 18.31%. SDG 10 reduced inequalities 9.19%. SDG 3 good health and well-being 8.92%. SDG 8 decent work and economic growth 7.78%.

Source: ESCWA calculations based on the ESCWA Skills Monitor.

8. Accounting and restaurant operation skills remain the highest in demand, with an increasing trend. Several ICT skills with decreasing trends are being replaced by other upward trending ICT skills in the same sector. Based on the ESCWA Skills Monitor, soft skills are stationary in the Arab region, with limited trends over time. Most upward trending hard skills were related to accounting and restaurant operations and to services and sales. Among the most decreasing trends, several were related to construction sites and the medical field. As for the ICT field, many skills are on the decrease, such as software engineering and computer engineering, while a vast range of programming languages skills is increasing.

Figure 8.  Ascending (left) and descending (right) trends of hard skills in the Arab region

Ascending (left) and descending (right) trends of hard skills in the Arab region. Ascending trends are sales management, financial statements, Kurdish (Language), key performance (KPIs), selling techniques, invoicing, computer science, finance, restaurant operation and accounting. Descending trends are construction, safety training, banking services, housekeeping, machinery, civil engineering, construction management, tumblr, corrective and preventive action (CAPA) and environment health and safety.

Source: ESCWA calculations based on the ESCWA Skills Monitor.

9. The average AI scoring for the region is around 36 per cent, indicating a low level of AI augmentation. The highest AI augmentation score is among data scientist positions, with around 50 per cent of tasks AI-augmented. Besides credit analyst jobs, the top 10 list includes mainly data-related occupations and finance jobs. The list does not include mid-skilled jobs, as all 10 jobs belong to high-skill activities. Looking at the list of the 10 least AI-augmented jobs, blue-collar and close to mid-skilled tasks are the jobs not heavily impacted by AI augmentation.

Two hands, human and electronic, reaching out to each other

Source: IStock.com.

10. The Arab region has a core cluster in business administration-related jobs, and is not heavily diversified in science-related jobs such as IT, manufacturing/industry, engineering and innovation. This calls for a greater structural transformation and greater technology adaptation and adoption. The ESCWA Skills Forest unveils the interconnection between jobs as a network, based on the hard skills they share for each of the 19 studied Arab countries. The professional job family in the Arab region is dominated by job openings in business and administration, followed by science and engineering. The likelihood of creating a job in business and administration is higher than in sectors such as IT or engineering, due to high activity and demand in that area and the possibility of changing jobs in that core is easier.

Figure 9.  Skills Forest

Skills forest showing demanded jobs in the region by occupational categories. These categories are: 1-managers. 2-professionals. 3-technicians and associate professionals. 4-clerical support workers. 5-service and sales workers. 6-skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers. 7- craft and related trades workers. 8- plant and machine operators and assemblers. 9-elementary occupations.Source: https://skillsmonitor.unescwa.org/analytics/regional.