AMITABH JHA - DOHA Despite the economic slowdown, the residents of Qatar are more likely than those of any other country in the Middle-East to buy a house or a car by the end of this financial year, says a recent survey.

They are also likely to be more optimistic than most others about their personal financial position at the end of the period.

The survey, conducted by bayt.com, a job search site in association with yougovshiraj.com, an international internet-based market research firm, was aimed at understanding the perceptions of consumers in the Middle East regarding the economy of their respective countries, their personal financial and job situation, their likelihood to purchase and invest and the employment market in general.

Apart from Qatar, people of Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Egypt were most optimistic about their personal financial positions while those of Syria, the UAE and Kuwait were largely pessimistic. However, a large section of the respondents felt that this was a bad time for doing business and finding jobs. However, the worst place for jobseekers in the Middle East at present was UAE closely followed by Kuwait.

The survey revealed that over sixty percent of the respondents from Qatar felt that the number of employees had gone up from the last year but almost a similar number said that salaries had not kept pace with the rising cost of living. Here again, the UAE and Kuwait were seen as the worst hit by the financial crisis. The job situation in Saudi Arabia and Algeria was voted slightly better than the rest of the Middle-East.

However, no country across the region was considered one where salaries had remained in tune with the rising cost of living. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, though not in that order, led the way on positive future outlook of personal financial position. Tunisians were most optimistic here followed by Saudis, Syrians and Qataris.

On the financial position of the country, most optimism was found among the residents of Tunisia and Morocco while those of Egypt and UAE were the least optimistic. Though they voted to say that the rise in the cost of living had outpaced salary hikes, employees across the region were more or less satisfied with their career prospects in their existing organisation. Interestingly, a third of the employees were concerned about job security but about 61 percent expressed moderate to high confidence that their jobs were secure. In Qatar, the corresponding figures were 22 and 49.

However, satisfaction with compensation was pretty low especially in Syria, Tunisia, Jordan and Algeria. In Qatar, 58 percent were either satisfied or happy while 39 percent expressed dissatisfaction with their salaries in the online survey.