This city has the most competitive job market in the world

High salaries, recent layoffs driving strong competition for jobs

This city has the most competitive job market in the world

With an average of nearly 400 applicants for every job ad after a week of posting, the city of Doha in Qatar emerged as the most competitive job market in the world.

The list was compiled by Resume.io after analysing LinkedIn data, with which it considered the average number of job applicants that an ad gets within a week of being posted.

Sitting right at the top of that list is Doha, where job applications receive an average of 399 applicants within a week of being posted on LinkedIn. Resume.io attributed this to the recent FIFA World Cup held in Qatar last year, which helped the local economy and industries there.

"No doubt, job hunters in Qatar (of which Doha is the capital) are attracted by the prospect of earning one of the highest average salaries in the world — which won't be taxed under Qatar law, either," Resume.io said on a blog post.

Coming in second is Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where an average of 282.9 applicants flock to a job ad within a week of being posted.

"It's likely that many job hunters with Dubai in their sights have got the memo that employees here, like Doha, can take home their entire salary thanks to no income taxation," Resume.io said.

The top 10 cities with the most competitive job markets include:

  1. Doha, Qatar (399 average applicants per job)
  2. Dubai, United Arab Emirates (282.9)
  3. Istanbul, Turkey (168.3)
  4. Johannesburg, South Africa (160.2)
  5. Abu Dhabi, UAE (148.8)
  6. Madrid, Spain (115.7)
  7. San Jose, CA, United States (107.6)
  8. Buenos Aires, Argentina (104.1)
  9. San Francisco, CA, United States (91.9)
  10. Tel-Aviv, Israel (82.5)

In the United States

San Jose and San Francisco in California are leading as the most competitive job markets in the US, with Resume.io attributing the case to high salaries likely attracting job seekers there.

In San Jose, which is the largest city in Silicon Valley, could also be seeing tight competition among jobseekers after major tech firms there laid off thousands of staff amid economic uncertainty.

Overall, the major cities in the US with the strongest jobseeker competition include:

  1. San Jose, California (107.6)
  2. San Francisco, California (91.9)
  3. New York City, New York (80.4)
  4. Chicago, Illinois (49.6)
  5. Dallas, Texas (48.8)

In other regions

In the United Kingdom, these are the cities with the highest number of job applicants per ad:

  1. London (19.7)
  2. Leicester (19.5)
  3. Edinburgh (18.9)
  4. Leeds (17.8)
  5. Coventry (13.5)

In Canada, this is the ranking based on the competitiveness of the job market:

  1. Toronto (65.5)
  2. Vancouver (47.1)
  3. Markham (41.1)
  4. Brampton (40.8)
  5. Mississauga (36.6)

In Australia, the cities seeing the strongest competition among job seekers are:

  1. Sydney (50.6)
  2. Melbourne (43.5)
  3. Perth (20.5)
  4. Cranbourne (18.2)
  5. Brisbane (17.2)