Dubai: There are fewer jobs available for the hundreds of UAE residents seeking new opportunities today, but certain businesses continue to expand and create additional positions.

According to the latest Monster Employment Index Middle East, a monthly gauge of online job postings in the region, the chemicals, plastic, rubber, paints, fertilizer and pesticides industry is currently leading the market in job creation. This sector had more vacancies to fill in October compared to a year earlier, registering a 50 per cent year-on-year growth in hiring.

There is also a high demand for talent in the UAE’s education industry, which posted a 33 per cent growth in recruitment. Companies in the medical industry are likewise seeking more skilled professionals, with the health care recruitment index rising by 21 per cent.

Hotels and other service-oriented organisations are keeping their doors open to jobseekers as well, with the hospitality index growing by 15 per cent. The oil and gas sector, which registered a 7 per cent year-on-year increase in labour demand, is also worth looking into.

The employment index, released on Monday, is based on a real-time review of tens of thousands of online job postings. Among the occupational groups monitored, legal professionals are the most in demand, posting a 33 per cent growth between October 2013 and 2014. Online demand for hospitality and travel professionals went up by 19 per cent.

Online demand for software, hardware and telecom professionals also bounced back, recording a 12 per cent growth, compared to negative six per cent in September 2014.

However, jobseekers with customer service, purchase, logistics and supply chain experience aren’t as lucky this time. Demand for these professionals has dropped by 16 per cent.

On the whole, recruitment activity in the UAE dropped by 2 per cent in October from the same period last year, owing to the slowdown in some sectors.

“However, despite this fall, consumers in the UAE remain confident and positive about [the] UAE’s job market as we head into 2015. Supporting this positive sentiment was also the wider economic landscape and IMF’s projections of economic growth for the country which reveals ongoing increased trends,” said Sanjay Modi, managing director at Monster.com for India, Middle East, South East Asia and Hong Kong.

The consumer goods, food and packaged food, fast-moving consumer goods, home appliance, garments, textiles, leather, gems and jewellery sector posted the biggest decline in online recruitment at 19 per cent.

Hiring in the production, manufacturing, automotive and ancillary industry dropped by 14 per cent, while online recruitment in the advertising, market research, public relations, media and entertainment sector fell by 13 per cent.

The retail, trade and logistics industry also saw fewer job opportunities in October compared to a year ago, showing a recruitment decline of 7 per cent.

Recruitment in the information technology, telecom and ISP sector was down by 3 per cent.