UAE residents feel less secure in their jobs than they did at the start of 2019 and less confident about getting a salary increase this year, said yallacompare, a leading comparison site for financial products, in a new report.

During the second quarter of 2019, yallacompare’s Consumer Confidence Tracker Q2 2019 polled more than 1,000 UAE residents on the state of their finances and attitudes towards work. Similarly sized surveys are conducted throughout each quarter of the year.

Just 31.4 per cent of respondents said they feel more secure in their job in Q2 2019 compared with a year ago. In Q1, the figure was 35.8 per cent, a difference of 4.4 percentage points. The proportion feeling less secure in their jobs than a year ago rose, from 32.1 per cent in Q1, to 36.6 per cent in Q2.

The proportion saying they’ve received a salary increase in the last 12 months declined, from 32.5 per cent in Q1, to 30.6 per cent in Q2. Around 60.6 per cent now expect an increase in the next 12 months, down from 64.3 per cent in Q1.

“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 Jonathan Rawling, CFO of yallacompare. “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.”

In Q2, 22.3 per cent of respondents said they had experienced a pay cut in the last 12 months, compared with 20.7 per cent saying the same thing in Q1. Nearly 17 per cent say they expect a pay cut in the next 12 months, compared with 15.1 per cent in Q1.

Despite more than one third of residents feeling less secure at work, more than three quarters (75.7 per cent) still feel confident about keeping their job this year. – TradeArabia News Service