Dubai: The next 12 months will be a busier period than in 2016 for hiring in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, with more companies confirming that they plan to recruit additional employees.

According to the 2017 Hays Salary and Employment Report published on Tuesday, about seven in ten (72 per cent) employers look to hire new staff this year compared to the 37 per cent who did so in 2016.

The outlook is an improvement from the previous year when businesses resorted to budget-tightening measures to cope with the impact of low oil prices.

“When looking at employer confidence for the next 12 months, it seems that the worst of the recent downturn might be behind us,” Chris Greaves, managing director at Hays, Gulf region, told Gulf News.

The region’s employment sector went through a challenging period in 2016. The number of redundancies across the GCC doubled year-on-year, with 4 per cent of employees reporting to have lost their job and nearly four in ten (37 per cent) of businesses implementing some job cuts in 2016.

More professionals also saw a decline in monthly incomes. The number of workers experiencing a pay cut rose from 2 per cent to 9 per cent during the same period.

“We have certainly noticed companies adopting a more strategic and cost-conscious approach to spending on employee remuneration and the hiring of additional headcount,” said Greaves.

Hays, however, noted that while last year was difficult, there is now optimism in the job market. Demand for talent across all industry sectors alone has seen a “general uplift” when compared to 2016. Layoffs are also expected to decline this year. “We anticipate a reduction in the number of redundancies in 2017 compared to 2016,” said Greaves.

“We are confident that the market is on the way up. Cost-cutting exercises, such as company restructuring and redundancies, in response to low energy prices, have already taken place,” he said.

“Many organisations are operating on minimum staff levels and are in a strong position to hire additional headcount in order to meet their 2017 business objectives.”

Latest economic indicators also suggest that conditions are improving. The Emirates NBD Dubai economy tracker index rose to 55.9 per cent in December, the highest reading since July, owing to fast growth in output and new work.

The GCC region also continues to draw interest from investors, as can be seen from the influx of new market players, particularly small businesses opting to set up shop in free zones.