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Unemployment, negative emotions rose in MENA region during COVID-19
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Employees in the region have reported the world’s highest rates of sadness
No other region has reported being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as much as the region of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a study by Gallup has revealed.
According to the State of the Global Workplace: 2021 Report, about 54 percent of the people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have said the coronavirus pandemic has affected their lives “a lot.” The global average is 45 percent.
“The impact of the coronavirus hit every element of people’s wellbeing — career, financial, physical, social and community — but in the MENA region, its hardest punch according to respondents was economic,” the report said.
Over half, 54 percent, of those with jobs at the time of the pandemic have reported working fewer hours and 23 percent have lost their job or business. Almost half, 48 percent, of those employed at the time of the pandemic lost pay as employers cut wages to stay afloat.
Though working men were much more likely to lose income or a job than women (54 percent vs. 37 percent respectively) — which tracks with the greater proportion of men than women in the local workforce — age didn’t seem to affect who lost wages at work as generations were affected at equal rates.
Employees in the MENA region reported the world’s highest rates of sadness (35 percent up eight percentage points from 2019). Worry also increased (46 percent, up five points from 2019), and half (50 percent) said they were stressed “a lot” during the previous day.
Globally, Gallup’s World Poll found substantial increases in experiences of sadness, worry and stress among workers employed for an employer during 2020.