More UAE workers feeling less secure in jobs – survey

People living in the UAE feel less secure in their jobs than they did at the beginning of 2019, according to a new survey.

However, most people still feel confident about keeping their job.

Data from the Consumer Confidence Tracker Q2 2019 from yallacompare also shows UAE residents are less confident about getting a salary increase this year.

The survey polled more than 1,000 people in the UAE during the second quarter of 2019 about the state of their finances and feelings about their employment.

According to the data, 31.4 per cent of respondents said they feel more secure in their job in Q2 2019 compared to 2018. That’s a decline from Q1 figures, which stood at 35.8 per cent. Further, the proportion of people feeling less secure in their jobs rose, from 32.1 per cent in Q1 to 36.6 per cent in Q2.

However, more than three-quarters (75.7 per cent) of respondents said they still expected to keep their job this year.

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The percentage of people saying they’ve had a salary increase in the past 12 months also fell. The number was at 32.5 per cent in Q1, but 30.6 per cent in Q2.

The data also reveals more people are expecting their salaries to be reduced. In Q2, 22.3 per cent of respondents said they had experienced a pay cut in the past 12 months, compared with 20.7 per cent saying the same thing in Q1. Almost 17 per cent of respondents said they expect a pay cut in the next 12 months, compared with 15.1 per cent in Q1.

Despite this, about 60.6 per cent of respondents said they expected a salary increase in the next 12 months, down from 64.3 per cent in Q1.

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Jonathan Rawling, CFO of yallacompare, said the data reflects a “sense of reality” for workers following the usual beginning of year optimism.

“Respondents tend to feel optimistic about their job prospects at the start of a new year and we saw that in the Q1 survey,” said Rawling. “The reduced sense of job security and tempered salary expectations in Q2 may reflect an increased sense of reality setting in as the year progresses.”