According to the 2008 Human Resource Overview, a Middle East salary survey conducted by Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj, Middle East salaries have struggled to keep pace with local cost-of-living increases to varying levels over the past year. More people in the GCC countries of the UAE, KSA, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman expressed high to medium levels of satisfaction with their current salaries than those expressing low levels of satisfaction, however generally, the perception was that there was room for improvement in salaries across the region.
The Middle East Salary Survey revealed that across the region, professionals in the Pharmaceuticals, Travel & Transport, Government Sector and Education/Academia sector were least satisfied with their current salaries while Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals professionals were the most satisfied. The survey also indicated that Banking/Finance professionals and Retail professionals received the largest proportion of household income in the form of bonuses, commissions and incentives.
Raises received across the calendar years 2006 and 2007 were seen to be fairly consistent. However, the general feeling was that salary scales need to improve further to come in line with inflation, depreciation of the dollar & economic growth in the home countries of expatriates. With regard to raises received over the 2007 calendar year quite a large number of people across industry segments indicated they were unhappy with their raise or didn’t receive a raise at all.
Despite the general feeling that increases in the cost of living are eroding the purchasing power and real income of consumers across the region, the attractiveness of the GCC as a place to live and work does not appear to be waning or in danger of being eroded. The Salary Survey clearly indicated that people were far more likely to consider moving to a higher paying industry or to a different company within the same industry or even to a different country within the region as an expat to improve their quality of life than they were to return to their home countries. The appeal of the GCC as a booming hub of new business continues to appeal, inflation notwithstanding, and the region shows no sign of losing its competitive edge in attracting top talent and retaining them.
Detailed results of the Middle East salary survey can be found on www.bayt.com
