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28 March 2024

Jobs, salaries, savings in UAE: What the future holds for you

Almost half of UAE respondents (48 per cent) have a very positive outlook on the future of the UAE economy. (Shutterstock)

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By Shuchita Kapur

If you’ve been thinking of your personal financial situation in the UAE in the coming months, indicators suggest things may get brighter as we move ahead into the year.

The availability of jobs is the perfect indicator that can suggest anyone’s financial well-being, and in the current scenario, there are enough options in the market.

This is according to the latest Bayt.com Middle East and North Africa Consumer Confidence Index survey, conducted in conjunction with YouGov, a research agency.

The findings reveal that more than a third of respondents surveyed in the UAE (35 per cent) believe that there are plenty of jobs available in the country, with about a fifth (19 per cent) claiming availability across ‘multiple’ industries.

At the same time, one in six respondents (16 per cent) claims availability of jobs but only across a ‘limited’ number of industries, and 30 per cent say they expect job availability to ‘increase’ over the next six months.

A similar number of employed UAE respondents (31 per cent) say the number of employees in their company has ‘increased’ over the past six months while 35 per cent believe the opposite to be true.

Over the course of the next six months, 38 per cent of employed UAE respondents expect the number of employees in their organisation to ‘increase’, the survey reveals.

Dubai-based Emirates NBD bank, in its latest monthly PMI survey, also highlighted that employment in the UAE’s non-oil private businesses rose at the quickest pace in three months, adding however that the rise was only moderate.

Anecdotal evidence linked hiring to rising workloads, it noted.

This suggests that the UAE’s non-oil businesses have started receiving fresh orders and now seem to be staffing up to meet the demand, brightening the options for those looking at job opportunities.

The good news is that almost half of UAE respondents (48 per cent) have a very positive outlook on the future of the UAE economy, which will impact their own personal well-being.

The survey also shows that just over a quarter of UAE respondents (26 per cent) believe that the country’s economy has improved in the last six months, while almost a third (32 per cent) believe that it has receded.

However, close to half of all respondents (48 per cent) expect the economy to improve in the next six months, vastly outnumbering the smaller group of only one in five who expect it to get worse, reads the Bayt report.

“In the UAE, 31 per cent of employed respondents believe that business conditions are either ‘good’ or ‘very good’; however, 30 per cent believe that business conditions are ‘bad’. However, respondents are largely optimistic about the future, with 60 per cent of them expecting business conditions to ‘get better’ in a year’s time.”

The better expected economy is likely to have a positive effect on the residents in the country.

“The outlook for the next few months is positive, though: 51 per cent of respondents believe that their personal financial situation will ‘improve’ in the next six months. When it comes to cost of living in the next six months, 58 per cent of respondents expect it to increase while 23 per cent expect the cost of living to remain the same,” it added.