Consumer confidence drops across Gulf, Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj research reveals

There was also a slightly lower level of optimism in the strong markets of Saudi and Qatar where the decline was 6 and 3 index points respectively.

The Consumer Confidence Index, which is a measure of a country's economic well being, reflects residents' satisfaction on various elements of the economy including inflation, job opportunities and cost of living.

In assessing attitudes to the respondents' financial position, the CCI was measured in part by asking whether they thought their current financial position was better than the previous year.

Since the last wave of October 2007, 5% fewer respondents across the region were optimistic of their personal financial situation. This decline was significant for all countries except UAE where the optimism was steady. In Qatar, 10% less respondents felt their current financial situation had improved from last year while in Saudi, this drop was 6%. This was also supported by their opinion on the country's economy - there was a significantly higher level of pessimism. It was only in the UAE that consumer confidence about the country's economy showed a slight improvement.

Pessimism is also being felt towards the future. The CCI measures respondents attitudes towards personal finances and that of the economy, a year from now. Overall this part of the index suffered a one point drop, most markedly in Kuwait and Egypt, where expectations fell 12 to 13 points, with only the UAE maintaining its earlier benchmark of October, 2007.

However, the news is not all gloomy. Respondents were asked to give their view on whether conditions today are good, neutral or bad for buying consumer goods.The results suggest consumer spending behaviour could improve in Qatar and UAE and remain around the same levels in Kuwait and Saudi.

'These results highlight the implications that having such important qualitative data - and representative attitudes towards the economy, has on businesses, the public sector and even individuals. By having a firm knowledge of consumer opinion and their indications as to whether they feel the time is right to spend, and what they would be buying over the next few months, industry can determine how consumer spending can be increased in the future,' says Bayt.com's CEO, Rabea Ataya.

The research also went further in a bid to measure employee confidence in the job market and their own career prospects. It highlights attitudes to job satisfaction levels and career prospects were mostly neutral, with high satisfaction levels marked only in Morocco, where 30% cite satisfaction as high.

Additionally, the research indicates satisfaction with current salary compensation was moderate to low across all the countries, with only 16% of respondents in the UAE and 13% in Kuwait, expressing high satisfaction levels with their remuneration.

'This research makes a strong case for sustainable growth through a fundamentally sound economy, consumer optimism, employee satisfaction and healthy job supply. UAE is one of the few countries where, in spite of rising cost of living and sky rocketing rents, consumers are still feeling good about the country's economy, their career and their personal financial situation. This is also supported by their feelings on the job market - 58% in the UAE feel there will be more jobs available in a year's time as compared to 49% in the previous October wave. Countries like Saudi and Qatar also are performing at healthy levels though there is a slight drop in positive sentiment in comparison to the previous wave. The largest drop in confidence comes from Kuwait, Algeria and Egypt and this is also reflected in their opinion of jobs becoming shorter in supply,' says Nassim Ghrayeb, CEO, YouGovSiraj.

'Detailed findings, like these concerning employee confidence, have a decisive influence for recruitment websites like bayt.com and for our key stakeholders, employers and jobseekers across the region. They send clear messages to employers and the recruitment industry about current consensus feelings on all elements of job, career growth and salary satisfaction, giving them an understanding of the market and enabling them to suitably tailor or amend their business practices for improving the job market,' concludes Ataya.

The data was collected online between the period of 17th January and 11th February 2008 with 6,702 respondents across the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Pakistan. Males and females aged between 20 and 69, of all nationalities, were included in the survey.