Losing a Job

Most people recover, and the recovery is faster with structure, support and a skilled search. Across 47 tested programmes, job seekers who took part were 2.67 times as likely to find work, and sadness falls sharply when a new job begins. In the UAE, insured workers receive 60 per cent of their basic salary for up to three months while they search.

What the report found

1. The UAE has built a safety net for the moment. Since 1 January 2023, the Involuntary Loss of Employment scheme has paid insured workers 60 per cent of their basic salary for up to three months. More than 6.8 million people subscribed in its first year, and by April 2025 more than 17,000 had received payments worth 180 million dirhams.
2. Work gives more than a salary. Research going back four decades finds that a job also gives the day a shape, contact with others, a shared purpose, a sense of identity and regular activity. Rebuilding these, from any source, supports wellbeing during the search.
3. Structure is the first thing to rebuild. People who use their time in a structured and purposeful way report higher self-esteem, whether or not they are in work. A clear daily plan is one of the simplest supports a job seeker has.
4. Searching well is a skill that can be learned. Across 47 tested programmes, job seekers who took part were 2.67 times as likely to find work. The programmes that worked combined practical skills with confidence, goal setting and support from others.
5. Most people recover, and many find a better fit. Sadness falls sharply at the time a new job begins, and people who use the search to explore and plan their careers tend to find better quality work. Acquaintances, not only close friends, open many of the doors.

What is inside

1. The moment
2. The ending: what a job gives
3. In between: the search
4. The decisions that shift
5. How the moment is lived across the Gulf
6. The new beginning: what lasts

Plus a phase map of the moment, a timeline of UAE support from the last day to the next role, an illustrated search day and a data panel of UAE figures.

Who it is for

For anyone between jobs and their families, and for employers, career services and HR teams in the UAE and the Gulf.

How we work

Moment Reports look at how people think and decide at particular points in the year or in life, starting with the UAE and then the wider Gulf. Every claim is graded Established, Emerging or Untested, and where researchers disagree, both sides are set out before we say where we stand.

Cite this report

The Why We Project (2026) Losing a Job: Loss, identity and the search that follows. Moment Report No. 11. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com