“Job security is the biggest concern for UAE consumers.  However, despite uncertainty levels tripling over the last six months, we are still among the top 10 countries with a comparatively higher perception of local job prospects.  More than one in three UAE consumers perceives their prospects as good or excellent over the next 12 months,” said Piyush Mathur, regional managing director, Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan at Nielsen.

In comparison, about a quarter of global consumers described their job prospects as bad in the coming year, with Latvians being particularly pessimistic – 78 percent responded negatively.

“Job concerns reflect in consumer spending habits.  For instance, consumers in the UAE are now tending to keep their spare cash in savings and using it to pay off their debts.  They are controlling discretionary spending, especially on clothing, entertainment outside the home and technology upgrades,” said Mathur.

The most attractive functions identified by survey respondents were human resources (HR) and public relations (PR), while sales was the least popular.  Males identified IT and marketing as preferred departments, while females wanted to work in customer care, administration or PR.  Both genders ranked HR as an attractive function.  The top three sectors were IT/telecom, banking and finance, and oil and gas.

“Businesses need to better understand and map the needs and expectations of employees in such a competitive and dynamic market,” said Hany Mwafy, Managing Director for North Africa for Nielsen.  “This information will help companies retain and attract top talent, a critical factor to being successful in this challenging time.”

The interviews were based on broadly structured questionnaires and covered employees of varying seniority levels and functions.  Males comprised approximately 80 percent of the sample, and showed a higher concentration in sales, while females had a greater representation in the media sector.  The survey was conducted in partnership with Wazayef Masr, Egypt’s leading employment-related newspaper.