Uae top for professional expats

The UAE has been ranked the best destination in the world for professional expats by LinkedIn.

The online network for professionals, which now has 380 million members worldwide, analysed changes made to its site over the past year and found that the UAE gainted 1.89 per cent as a percentage of the world's total workforce - the second year in a row that it has led the LinkedIn global chart.

"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," comments Ali Matar, head of Talent Solutions, LinkedIn Mena.

Indeed, while India was the leading source of professionals, accounting for 28 per cent of relocating workers, the UK, Pakistan, USA and Qatar completed the top five.

"The study clearly shows that there is a high international appeal, especially from the UK and the US, establishing the UAE as a globally desirable destination for migration," adds Matar.

Dubai was the most searched-for destination among US expats, followed by London.

What jobs do people take when they move to the Middle East? Given Dubai's reputation as a real estate investment hotspot, it is perhaps no surprise that the most common occupations found on LinkedIn were salespeople and marketing specialists, followed by project managers and corporate finance specialists, as well as accountants and mechanical engineers.

Switzerland and Saudi Arabia were the second and third most popular destinations for workers moving overseas.