THE 2016 SALARY SURVEY

Are you earning as much as you could be?

In recent months global stock markets, commodities and oil prices have plunged, impacting economic sentiment in the Gulf and across the world.

Jobs have been cut across a variety of industries and Gulf Cooperation Council governments are slashing subsidies and reigning in spending as they tackle sizeable budget deficits.

So what does this mean for regional salaries?

Our 2016 Salary Survey, compiled using data from a select group of recruiters, shows a marginal impact on pay packets in the last year.

The average salary for Arab, Asian and Western expats in this year’s survey is $11,123 per month, roughly an 0.8 per cent decline from last year when salaries rose 7.88 per cent to $11,211.

The impact is mixed for each group. Asian salaries are the hardest hit, declining around 3 per cent from $9,518 in 2015 to $9,231 this year. This follows a particularly noticeable dip in Qatar (down 9 per cent) where the $9,548 average monthly salary was actually slightly less than the $9,570 seen in 2014.

Elsewhere, the average salary for Western expats also declined 1 per cent from $12,478 in 2015 to $12,350 in 2016, including nearly a 3 per cent dip in Kuwait. The average Western salary in the country declined from $12,356 last year to $11,991, while there was a more moderate decrease in the United Arab Emirates.

In contrast, Arab expats are the only group to see their average monthly salary increase in this year’s survey, up 1.28 per cent from $11,638 to $11,787. The group saw salaries decrease 1 per cent in Kuwait but there was a 2.7 per cent jump in Saudi Arabia from $13,567 to $13,936.

This all points to a relatively flat market in the region where Ian Giulianotti, director of recruitment consultancy Nadia, suggests low oil prices mean many firms are taking a “wait and see” approach to pay packets.

“Obviously salaries can’t be decreased,” he says.

“Your salary is your salary for the length of your contact so it would be quite some time before we start seeing any reductions, if any. But we are seeing a large number of CVs from people being affected by redundancy within the oil and gas industry, not just throughout the GCC but worldwide.”

Equally, Charterhouse managing director for Middle East and Europe, Jennifer Campori, suggests low oil prices have “not had an overall impact on salaries in terms of salaries being lowered”. But she says the immediate outlook for pay packets is flat.

On a country-by-country basis the picture in this year’s survey was mixed. The average salary in Bahrain for all three groups was up 0.71 per cent, or $69, from $9,752 to $9,821.

Similar growth was seen in the UAE,

where the average salary was up 0.46 per cent to $11,276, from $11,224 last year, and a minimal increase (0.06 per cent) was seen in Saudi Arabia from $12,978 to $12,986. However, there was a decline in Oman, where the average salary dipped almost 1 per cent from last year, from $9,862 to $9,772.

In Qatar the average salary was hit harder still, down 2.22 per cent, or $275, to $12,086 from $12,361. And Kuwait saw the largest decrease of all at 2.67 per cent, or $296, to $10,794 from $11,090.

The pay divide

In last year’s survey recruiters pointed to a slow but steady closing of the gap between Arab, Asian and Western expat salaries but there was little sign of this in 2016.

The average Western expat salary was 28.9 per cent higher than the average Asian expat salary in this year’s survey, up from 26.9 per cent last year. The gap between the average Arab and Asian expat pay cheque also increased in favour of the former, from 20 per cent last year to 24.3 per cent in 2016. However, there was some sign of progress between Western and Arab salary equalisation. The average monthly pay cheque of the former was 4.6 per cent higher than the latter in this year’s survey, compared to 6.9 per cent in 2015.

Giulianotti suggests there has been little change in comparative terms between the monthly salaries of different expat groups. But he points to a noticeable shift in the value of the salary some expats send home.

The strength of the United States dollar, and in turn dollar-linked Gulf currencies, means some earnings are now worth

significantly more when converted into an individual’s home currency.

“If you’re a person that has an EU passport you’ve seen, in terms of what you’re earning in euros, a 32 per cent increase in your income,” he says.

Elsewhere, the gap between the lowest and highest paid positions in this year’s survey remained consistent. A Western chief executive or managing director in Saudi Arabia – our highest paying position – earned 175 per cent more per month than an Asian executive secretary in Bahrain – our lowest paying position - compared to 175.9 per cent last year.

On average, chief executive officers and managing directors of multinationals earned about 150 per cent more than executive secretaries. This compared with a difference ranging from 154 per cent for Arab expats to 161 per cent for Asian expats last year.

Part of the reason for the closing of the gap was the lower average pay packet of the CEO/MD of a multinational position since last year’s survey.

Recruiters cited performance-linked earnings for a 39 per cent increase in 2015 to $38,525, following some generally positive financial results at the close of 2014. But now with global economic headwinds and the low oil price impacting regional sentiment and financial results in recent quarters, the outlook has changed.