The “Best Cities of the Middle East and North Africa2010” report conducted by the Middle East’s number one job site Bayt.com in conjunction with research specialists YouGov Siraj, surveyed the top cities in the MENA according to economic factors, labor rights, environmental factors, everyday life factors and socio-cultural factors. Overall, taking all factors into account, the10 best cities were ranked in the following descending order: Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Dubai, Manama, Tunis, Sharjah, Doha, Kuwait City, Marrakech and Amman.
The Economic Factors section consisted of five key elements that could be related to a given individual’s life in a city. Each of these elements plays a crucial role either directly or indirectly in shaping the overall quality of life. The determining factors used for this section of the study were taken as follows (ranked here by order of “extreme” importance to respondents): availability of jobs (at85% of total votes), reasonably priced day to day amenities( at83% of votes), availability of affordable housing ( at80% of votes), competitive salaries (at74% of votes) and benefits for working parents (at60% of votes) . The cities that scored “extremely” well in economic factors were ranked in the following order starting from the highest to the lowest; Manama, Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Sharjah, Kuwait City, Tunis and Jeddah. In Manama,29% of respondents felt the availability of jobs was good to excellent,39% felt the availability of competitive salaries was good to excellent,19% felt the same about the benefits of working parents,21% felt the availability of housing was good to excellent and an overwhelming63% felt that day to day amenities were well priced. Doha followed with29% of respondents stating the availability of jobs was good to excellent,40% stating the availability of competitive salaries was good to excellent,29% stating the same about working parents’ benefits,21% stating the availability of affordable housing was good to excellent and28% stating the day to day amenities were well priced.
“The Top Cities in the Middle East study revealed some very interesting insights into the Middle East with some cities like Manama and Doha recurring at the top. Indeed,85% of respondents screened stated availability of jobs as a very crucial criterion in a city. This is not surprising considering the recent crisis and it is also the reason why cities with high employment were listed at the top of the economic factors section. The rest of the criteria upon which respondents were surveyed indicated that people in the region also valued cities built to cater to professional work environments. This is not surprising considering that most expats are attracted to this region for its current work opportunities and opportunities for career growth and development,” said Amer Zureikat, VP Sales, Bayt.com.
The Labor Rights section consisted of five key elements that could affect the lives of individuals in the city they reside in. These are considered not only crucial for working professionals but also for the non-working population- including housewives and children. These were identified as follows (ranked here by order of “extreme” importance to respondents): a wage protection system (at77% of votes), end of service benefits (at74% of total votes), termination rights (at62% of votes), vacation allowances (at59% of votes) and parenthood allowances (at57% of votes). The cities that scored “extremely” well in the “Labor Rights” section were ranked in the following order starting from the highest to the lowest: Abu Dhabi, Manama, Muscat, Dubai, Tunis, Doha, Sharjah, Kuwait City, Rabat and Aleppo. In Abu Dhabi,40% of respondents felt the end of services was good to excellent,26% felt termination rights were good to excellent,41% felt vacation allowances were good to excellent,21% felt the same about parent allowances and46% felt the same about wage protection systems. Manama followed with32% of respondents stating end of service benefits were good to excellent,33% stating the same about termination rights,48% stating the same about vacation allowances,29% stating the same about parenthood allowances and41% stating the same about the wage protection system.
The Environmental Factors surveyed consisted of a set of important aspects related to comfort and cleanliness that affect the overall quality of life in a city. These were taken to include (ranked here by order of “extreme” importance to respondents): clean water (at88% of total votes), clean air (at79% of votes), clean streets and roads (at77% of votes) and comfortable weather (at59% of votes). The cities that scored “extremely” well in “Environmental Factors” were ranked in the following order starting from the highest to the lowest: Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Marrakech, Dubai, Tunis, Manama, Rabat, Amman, Aleppo and Sharjah. In Muscat,88% of respondents felt the availability to clean roads and streets was good to excellent,40% felt the same about the weather,74% felt the same about the availability of clean air and84% felt the same about water cleanliness. Abu Dhabi closely followed with92% of respondents stating the availability of clean roads and streets was good to excellent,35% stating the same about the weather,59% stating the same about the availability of fresh air and75% stating the same about water cleanliness
The Everyday Life elements took into account11 diverse aspects that are considered to have a direct impact on the overall standard of life in a city. These are as follows ranked here by order of “extreme” importance to total respondents): The availability of health care facilities such as hospitals and qualified doctors (at84% of total votes), quality of available health care facilities (at84% of votes), water/electricity/sewage systems (at82% of votes), quality of available schools (at80% of votes), availability of schools (at79% of votes), quality of colleges and universities (at78% of votes), availability of colleges and universities (at74% of votes), accessible public transportation system (at67% of votes), quality of accessible public transportation (at64% of votes), availability of parks and community gardens (at59% of votes) and availability of wide range of entertainment (at52% of votes). The cities that scored “extremely” well in “Everyday Life Factors” were ranked in the following order starting from the highest to the lowest: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Tunis, Sharjah, Muscat, Manama, Kuwait City, Amman, Beirut and Marrakech. In Abu Dhabi, respondents were very happy with the quality of education,59% felt the schools were good or excellent and51% felt the same about colleges. Meanwhile respondents were also happy with health care facilities with69% stating they were good or excellent.
“It is interesting to notice that three cities from the UAE (Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi) come up quite often. This is a reflection of the UAE’s diverse emirates each with advanced development in different sectors. However, there is one area that is strong throughout the UAE and that is the country’s health care facilities. This is bound to play a big role in the cities’ attractiveness levels as participating UAE respondents considered health care quality a very important factor in cities,” said Sundip Chahal, Chief Operating Officer, YouGov Siraj. Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah also occupied the top three positions respectively in terms of the availability of parks and community gardens and Dubai led the region in terms of accessibility and quality of the public transport system as well as in having a wide range of entertainment avenues.
The Socio-cultural Factors are forces within cultures, societies and cities that affect the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of individuals who are a part of them. These were taken to include (ranked here by order of “extreme” importance to respondents):low crime rates (at85% of total votes), effective law enforcement (at84% of votes), stability of political environment (at75% of votes), the fair treatment of all nationalities (at69% of votes), freedom of expression (at67% of votes) and the equal treatment of both genders (at56% of votes). The cities that scored “extremely” well in “Socio- Cultural Factors” were ranked in the following order starting from the highest to the lowest: Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Sharjah, Tunis, Dubai, Damascus, Manama, Doha, Amman and Aleppo. In Abu Dhabi,82% of respondents said there were low crime rates and81% said law enforcement was good to excellent This was closely followed by Muscat where81% of respondents stated there were low crime rates and72% stated law enforcement was good to excellent.
“The Best Cities of the Middle East and North Africa2010 and other seasoned HR Surveys that Bayt.com conducts alongside YouGov Siraj aim to provide the region’s organisations and professionals with regularly updated research that sheds light on various elements of the MENA Region’s job market, economic and social situation and fresh information that helps shape the decisions of working professionals and employers alike”, concluded Zureikat.
Data for the “Best Cities of the Middle East and North Africa2010” research report was collected online between21st October to7th November2010 with11,662 respondents from the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The full research report can be accessed online for free on www.bayt.com along with other key regional HR research including the Middle East Consumer Confidence Index, the annual Bayt.com Middle East Salary Survey, the annual Middle East Women in the Workplace Survey and others.