59% say Deyaar job cuts just tip of the iceberg

Job cuts in the GCC region are far from over and hundreds more employees will be impacted before the economic recovery takes hold, according to the results of an Arabian Business poll.

Nearly 60 percent of the hundreds who took part in our online survey said they believed that developer Deyaar's recent announcement that it had cut 20 percent of its workforce was "just the tip of the iceberg".

They believed many hundreds more across the GCC would become victims of the downturn that has hit the real estate and construction sectors in particular.

In recent weeks, optimism has returned to the region with the International Monetary Fund predicting a return to economic growth for the region in 2010.

UAE economy chief have also said that they expect 4.5 percent growth next year but most people in our poll were still concerned about the continuing effects of the global crisis.

But a senior UAE banker last week warned that a second wave of job cuts could hit the country next year.

Chris de Bruin, the country head of consumer banking at Standard Chartered estimated that up to 1,000 jobs had been lost so far in local banks.

“Next year we will still see quite a lot of stress as people continue to lose their jobs. We are still on high alert,” he said.

On top of the 59 percent who saw many more job cuts, another 25 percent of respondents told us that while the rate of job cuts was slowing, "it was too early to say they were over".

Only three percent of those who took part in our poll said they thought the Deyaar job cuts would signal the end of job losses in the region.

A further 13 percent of respondents said they believed the jobs market had improved but it would still take a few months before substantial job opportunities returned to the region.

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