Just under a third of UAE residents say they have not been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Time Out’s UAE-wide Social Distancing Survey.
The survey, which polled more than 1,000 adult UAE residents in May, asked “Have you been personally impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic?”. While 63 percent of respondents said yes, 31 percent said they had not. Six percent said they were not sure.
Of those who said they had been financially impacted, respondents were asked to select the ways in which they had been affected. Sixty-seven percent of affected respondents said they had taken a pay cut or reduced remuneration, 22 percent said their spouse had taken a pay cut or reduced remuneration, 12 percent said they’d found themselves unemployed, and seven percent said their spouse had found themselves unemployed.
Seventeen percent said they had seen a reduction in the value of their personal investments, while seven percent said they had seen a reduction in the value of their business investments.
Of the ten percent who specified other reasons, a majority related to cancelled or reduced business projects (including freelance and music gigs) and factors such as being placed on unpaid leave.
Respondents were also asked “In terms of your current personal financial situation, are you concerned for the future, unconcerned for the future, or neutral?”. Sixty-four percent said they were concerned for the future, while 27 percent said they felt neutral and ten percent described themselves as unconcerned for the future.
Time Out’s Social Distancing Survey, which collected responses from adults living across the Emirates, ran for the month of May, and covered a number of topics, including the impact of the pandemic on personal finances, rent, family life, dining habits, shopping habits, staycations, holidays and leisure.
For more from Time Out’s Social Distancing Survey, click here.
