Data was collected online by YouGov Omnibus among 2001 respondents in the UAE and Saudi Arabia between April 8 and 15, 2020
SoDATA — An increasing number of people in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are concerned about job losses or salary cuts. Notably, UAE residents are much more worried about this outcome as compared to people in Saudi Arabia (64 per cent vs 38 per cent), according to the latest data from a YouGov survey.
In both the countries, concern over job loss was seen more among expats than locals. In the UAE, Western (74 per cent) and Asian expats (68 per cent) appeared more nervous about this scenario as compared to the Emiratis (46 per cent). Similarly, in Saudi Arabia, expats are more anxious about losing their livelihoods than locals (56 per cent vs 30 per cent).
Between the two countries — UAE and KSA, South Asian disapora leads in terms of number and remittances as compared to other expats.
Their remittances home over the decades have been a crucial part of their respective country’s balance of trade payments, disposable income of millions of households and upward mobility.
The pre-pandemic economic scenario in the oil-rich Gulf also provided the residents of UAE and KSA upward mobility.
Oil is now heavily dependent on demand which has slipped due to social distancing and lockdowns. There’s surplus crude with storage capacity reaching the highest level.
Thinking about the impact of the coronavirus, more than half of UAE and Saudi Arabia residents (54 per cent) said the pandemic will have a long lasting damaging impact on their respective country’s economies.
The survey also shows that half the public in both the countries believe jobs and employment as well as their wages will also suffer over a prolonged period of time.
People aged between 25-34 years continue being the most pessimistic about the likely outcomes of the Coronavirus and for all areas tested they were more likely than their counterparts to say the pandemic’s damage will be long lasting.
Data was collected online by YouGov Omnibus among 2001 respondents in the UAE and Saudi Arabia between April 8 and 15, 2020.
