(The Star) - PETALING JAYA: The majority of Malaysians feel safe in their present jobs, according to a Gallup International Association poll. 

It said 84% of Malaysians were optimistic about their job security with only Norway (85%) scoring higher in a survey of 61 countries. 

If the results are looked at as a whole, only one in four people think there is a chance they may become unemployed. 

The Gallup International Voice of the People survey, conducted between October and December last year, asked people in 61 countries in different continents about their labour prospects. 

In Malaysia, 1,000 people above the age of 18 were surveyed by telephone. 

Some of the countries where more respondents declared there would be a chance they may become unemployed included Cameroon, Serbia, Panama, Bolivia and the Czech Republic. 

The survey also asked respondents to assess the difficulty they would have in finding a new job if they were to lose their current one. 

Half of the Malaysian respondents felt they would take a longer time to find a new job while only three out of 10 were optimistic in getting new jobs fairly quickly. 

On job security and the ability to find a new job, the survey found as a whole that with a higher level of education, confidence was higher. 

For job security, 72% of the respondents who felt safe had a high level of education against 57% with only basic education. 

The survey also found that confidence diminished with age, with only two in 10 respondents over 51 years old thinking they could find a job fairly quickly compared to four out of 10 of those below 30 years. 

Gallup International Association is a non-profit association that conducts opinion and market research in over 100 countries.  

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