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Employees in the META region think they would earn 41 % more if they had better digital skills
According to a recent Kaspersky survey of 2,000 employees across SMBs and enterprises in the Middle East , Turkey and Africa region ( META ), employees are feeling the lack of digital skills when working on computers and other digital equipment . If they had higher digital skills , employees think they would earn 41 % more , on average .
Specifically , respondents in Egypt said they would earn 53 % more money with higher digital skills and in the UAE – 44 % more . Respondents in Saudi Arabia indicated their salary would increase by 36 %, in Turkey by 35 % and in South Africa by 36 %.
Employees understand the importance of acquiring new digital skills and honing their existing ones . In the META region in general , 79 % of employees tried to uptake paid or free digital literacy trainings on their own . In Egypt this number stands at 75 %, in Saudi Arabia at 70 %, in the UAE at 91 %, in Turkey at 81 % and in South Africa at 76 %.
Remote work makes a comeback as a costcutting solution for SMEs
Economic pressure is forcing SMEs to revert back to remote working models to cut costs .
The latest research by Nucleus Commercial Finance indicates that SMEs are experiencing a decline in confidence , with an average score of 40.1 out of 100 , where a reading under 50 represents a slip in confidence .
This drop is attributed to concerns about inflation , increasing operational expenses and uneasy cash flow . Among the 1,500 surveyed SMEs , 79 % are promoting remote work as a strategy to cut down on business costs .
This shift in approach is driven by on-going challenges in securing funding , a problem that has persisted since traditional banks started imposing stricter lending criteria .
Andy Ward , VP International for Absolute Software , said : “ For remote and hybrid working to be successful , it is essential that organisations prioritise cybersecurity to ensure that devices , applications and the company network remain secure regardless of where an employee is logging on from .”
More than one million over 50s now work for themselves as pandemic prompts midlife selfemployment surge
Tens of thousands more over 50s are now running their own businesses despite an overall decline in self-employment since 2020 , new analysis of workforce statistics shows .
The analysis , published by IPSE ( the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed ), found that the number of self-employed business owners aged 50 and over surged to 1.1 million in 2023 – 89,000 more than in 2020 – despite the total solo self-employed population falling by 154,000 in the same period .
Furthermore , of those aged 50 and over in self-employment , as many as one in six ( 15 %) launched their businesses within the past three years .
Released annually , the IPSE Self-Employed Landscape report provides a snapshot of how the sector ’ s size , demographics and economic impact have changed in the past year .
The report also found that the sector ’ s economic contribution soared by more than £ 50 billion in 2023 , to a total of £ 331 billion , after declining in 2022 . �
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