LinkedIn study highlights UAE as global leader in attracting foreign talent

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was found to be the global leader in attracting talented young professional immigrants by a recent international study performed by LinkedIn, the world’s largest web-based professional network.

The study analyzed every new job position added to member profiles in 2014, finding that the UAE attracted the most talent, gaining 1.89 percent as a percentage of its total workforce. That gives the top spot to the UAE for the second year in a row.

LinkedIn boasts more than 380 million members around the world with over 16 million in the Middle East and North Africa. The UAE alone has more than two million LinkedIn members, allowing the network to determine broad trends among the globe’s connected professionals.

Ali Matar, from LinkedIn’s MENA operations said the study shows the UAE is currently the most attractive destination for professionals from around the world.

“It is especially interesting that the results of this study show that the UAE’s attractiveness as an employment market is no longer limited to the traditional sources of talent, which for years have been India, Pakistan and other Arab states,” Matar said. “The study clearly shows that there is a high international appeal, especially from the United Kingdom and the United States.

Still, the study shows India as the leading source of professional talent coming into the UAE representing about 28 percent. The U.K., Pakistan, U.S. and Qatar make up the rest of the top five. Other Gulf nations contributed a combined 11 percent of members who moved to the UAE.

By sector, the largest groups coming into the UAE are working in professional services, architecture and engineering, finance and insurance, technology and retail.