The public in the UAE have been affected more by the economic downturn, as compared to the people in the other Middle Eastern countries.
These are the post-survey findings of the international polling company, YouGov. The survey showed that one out of 10 persons had lost their job in the past six months, while two-thirds saw their friends or members of their family losing jobs.
The survey also indicated that residents in the UAE substantially reduced the expenditure, as most of them are increasingly worried because of the recession.
According to Nassim Ghrayeb, the head of YouGov in the Middle East and North Africa, the trend of the results of this survey has been the same as it was six months ago.
He said: "We have seen UAE consumers are cutting back considerably on their spending. Now, despite some signs of optimism at the grass-roots level in the global economy, it seems the trend of being more price-conscious looks set to continue, at least in the short term."
43 per cent of the UAE residents questioned during the survey said that they had reduced their household expenditure, and 45 per cent of these did it because of the recession.
To meet the difficult financial times, many in the Emirates are willing to sell their investments; and 24 per cent respondents of the survey are waiting to do so at any point of point. Nearly 14 per cent of the UAE respondents are shifting to cheaper localities.
In the Middle East, 36 per cent feel that they were better off before the recession, where as in the UAE 41 per cent felt so - with 48 per cent citing the reason to be job losses, while 23 per cent felt it was due to the cut in the salary.
Ghayreb said: "According to the study, job losses featured most strongly in the UAE, suggesting that redundancies have been much more widespread in the Emirates."
The survey was conducted by YouGov from May 26 and June 28, during which 12,908 men and women were interacted, all of age above 18. The survey was conducted in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Pakistan.
