Even as expatriates in the United Arab Emirates are losing their jobs and considering leaving in the next year, the majority considers the emirate better than other countries they could live in and a significant number are considering starting their own businesses, according to a survey released Tuesday.
With fears about job security and dissatisfaction with the high cost of living prompting four in ten expats to consider leaving, 34 percent are considering staying and starting their own business, the survey by Dubai-based Real Opinions found.“One of the issues is there’s a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace and of course with uncertainty people look at possible alternatives instead of just waiting for fate to take its course,” Dan Healy, CEO of Real Opinions, told AlArabiya.net.
In terms of job security, eight percent of respondents said they had already lost their jobs and 17 percent felt they would most likely lose their job or be made redundant over the coming 12 months. Add to this the extremely high costs of living, especially in Dubai where many financial and property firms are located, and it becomes clear why people think about leaving. Seventy-five percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the overall cost of living, though according to the 2008 Mercer Cost of Living Survey neither Dubai or Abu Dhabi appeared in the top 50 most expensive cities, with most European capitals and New York outranking them.
Entrepreneurial spirit
But expats do not want to leave the year-round sunny emirate that boasts a relatively high standard of living, said Healy, citing the 58 percent of respondents who said they considered living in the UAE better than other countries. The survey included people from a cross-section of monthly incomes ranging below AED 10,000 ($2775) to more than AED 30,000 ($8333).
An alternative to leaving could be to start up one’s own business, a move 11 percent said they had already made and another 34 percent considering do so within the next year. “There are challenges and opportunities for UAE authorities to make the most of these results,” said Healy, suggesting that the inability of employers to adapt to the economic situation has prompted employees to take up the challenge themselves by setting up their own companies in a country without corporate and income taxes.
The representative online survey of 450 foreigners working or recently employed in the UAE was conducted just prior to what Healy called a “timely intervention” by the UAE federal government's central bank, which purchased a $10 billion bond issued by the government of Dubai under a $20 billion program. Healy said the survey, a preliminary look at the expats in the UAE, indicated that many of those looking to leave are highly skilled and were weighing other options. Further research on who these expats are, what industries they work in and their level of personal debt would need to be done to determine whether there is a brain-drain and which industries might see more businesses.
Better opportunities
But many expats were lured to the UAE by more than just high salaries and standard of living; the UAE offered many expats career opportunities not available to them in their home countries given experience and education levels. Amy Lewia, a 24-year-old American just out of architecture school, lost her job in Dubai and was ready to reluctantly head back to New York when she received a call about a job in Abu Dhabi Tuesday.“I was too sad to leave the country because I couldn’t find anything,” she told AlArabiya.net. “The work experience is like none other I could get at home for my experience level, the work is above what I would be getting for someone my age in the states.”And, she noted, there do not seem to be many jobs in the U.S. either.
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