Salary satisfaction has fallen across the Middle East by two percentage points, in terms of the number of professionals highly satisfied with their salary, to5%. In Egypt, just6% of professionals are highly satisfied with their remuneration, according to recent research conducted by the Middle East’s number one job site Bayt.com, in conjunction with regional research specialists YouGov Siraj. The picture around the rest of the Middle East is similar - with a peak of7% of professionals highly satisfied with their salary in Qatar, and a low of just2% of professionals highly satisfied in Syria.
Across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the average monthly salary differs considerably from country to country, the survey found. This year, it was found that Qatar eclipsed the UAE in terms of the biggest salaries, with more than a third of Qatar’s professionals,39%, earning between USD $3,001 and $8,000 each month. This figure was37% of professionals in the UAE. Unsurprisingly, the Gulf region has the highest number of professionals earning top tier salaries:12% of professionals in Qatar earn more than $8,000 each month, as do10% of professionals in the UAE,7% in Bahrain,6% in Kuwait and3% in Saudi Arabia and Oman.
As in the previous wave, the lowest paid professionals in the region are in the North African countries of Algeria, Egypt and Morocco - although the total number of professionals receiving the lowest salary level has dropped in each country. This year,50% of residents in Algeria earn under $500 per month compared with54% last year. In Egypt,41% of professionals receive up to $500 per month, as do40% of professionals in Morocco, while2% of professionals in Morocco earn more than $8,000 per month, as do just1% of professionals in Egypt.
The Middle East Salary Survey, conducted annually by Bayt.com and YouGov Siraj, is designed to look at the current levels of wages and benefits in the region, and to gauge employee opinion and satisfaction levels vis-à-vis the salaries they receive, and how these have kept pace with the cost of living.
“There is a very high demand for accurate figures on salary levels in the Middle East across industries, job roles and career levels,” stated Bayt.com’s CEO, Rabea Ataya. “By conducting this comprehensive pan-regional, pan-industrial, salary survey which covers professionals across the GCC, Levant and North Africa, we are able to shed timely light on what level of salaries people are earning and whether the Middle East’s professionals are, or indeed are not, satisfied with how much they are paid, in addition to their expectations vis-à-vis future salaries and economic conditions.”
The data for the Salary Survey is collated in part by looking at whether average salary increases were in-line with the average rise in the cost of living. As found in previous Bayt.com research, professionals resoundingly felt that the average salary increase did not reflect the rise in the cost of living in any of the surveyed countries. Overall, professionals across the Middle East felt that the cost of living had increased by24%, yet the average salary increased by just7%. In Egypt, respondents said that living costs had increased by27% while the average salary increase was just11%.
This year, the biggest disparity in the increase in living costs compared to salary raise was felt in Syria - where respondents felt the cost of living had increased by28%, while salaries had increased by just9%. Following close behind was Saudi Arabia and Jordan where in each country there was an18 percentage point disparity between the rise in salary level and the rise in the cost of living. While there were still sizeable gaps between the salary and living cost increases, the countries where this gap was smallest were Tunisia and Qatar, which both recorded a12% difference, and Morocco and Bahrain which both reported a14% gap.
Interestingly, the respondents were asked to compare their salary raise for the period of December2008-2009, and their salary raise for the period of December2007-2008. Across all of the surveyed countries, the salary increase for the2007-2008 period was higher than a year later, which perhaps demonstrates the effect of the recession on the region’s salaries. On average, the2007-2008 salary raise was9.0% compared to a7.3% average raise the following year.
This year’s salary survey also looked at the respondents’ level of satisfaction with the pay rise they received. For the most part, the region’s respondents did not receive a pay rise, with a sizeable44% missing out. This figure was an overwhelming59% of respondents in Kuwait, while only29% of respondents in Egypt said that they did not receive a pay rise - the lowest figure among the countries surveyed. In Egypt, just5% of professionals said they were very happy with their salary increase,10% were very unhappy,21% consider themselves as unhappy, and just10% agreed that their pay rise was fair given the circumstances.
The survey also looked at what percentage of their salary people manage to save each month. The results showed that a high proportion,38%, do not manage to save any of their monthly salary at all. Jordan, Morocco and Syria were the countries where respondents were least likely to save, with54%,51% and50%, respectively, stating that they save no money each month. The best savers were respondents in Qatar -74% of those surveyed manage to save money each month, followed by71% of respondents in Oman. In Egypt, just55% of the professionals surveyed manage to save some of their salary each month.
Despite the widespread unhappiness with pay rises, the region’s respondents generally believe that they are better off in terms of their quality of life in their country of residence, when compared to their peers.. In Egypt,43% of professionals said they are better off than others, while another42% said they were about average. At the other end of the spectrum, just14% of respondents said they were worse off than others. Those feeling worse off were respondents in Jordan -21% said they were worse off than others of their generation.
“Employers and employees alike need to look at studies like this to help in gauging both what to pay and what to expect, respectively. Given the challenging economic circumstances of the past year, it comes as no surprise perhaps that so many of the region’s professionals did not even receive a pay rise,” said Joanna Longworth, CMO, YouGov. “However, many of the region’s professionals feel they are doing better than others in terms of their quality of life. This demonstrates while they may be unhappy with their pay rise or the current economic conditions, in reality they still feel in a relatively good position.”
The study additionally revealed that across the Middle East,74% of residents feel they have personally been affected by the global economic crisis. In Egypt, the figure was slightly above the average:77% said they have been personally affected by the crisis, while the remaining23% said they have not been affected. Residents in Jordan -81% - were the hardest hit amongst the surveyed countries, while least affected were respondents in Oman and Lebanon, where57% and58% respectively said they have been affected by the crisis.
Asked their feelings about the economic climate in terms of the labour market, almost a quarter of respondents,22%, said they feel optimistic that there will be robust economic growth in their country of residence and more jobs available in a year’s time. This year just18% feel pessimistic about the future. Oman and Morocco were the most optimistic about the future -34% and28%, respectively said they were feeling very optimistic, while Jordan and Lebanon were the least optimistic with just16% and14% of professionals- respectively- stating they are very optimistic.In Egypt,21% of respondents said they were quite pessimistic while a relatively low18% said they were very optimistic about what the future holds.
“The salary survey serves to paint a clear picture of economic conditions inside a particular country and allows organisations, recruiters and stakeholders across all types of industry to see how salary levels are changing from year to year. By conducting such a survey, we can add value to organisations across the region by giving them an insight into current trends and feelings about the labour market, which can then be used for affecting change,” concluded Ataya.
Data for the2009/2010 Salary Survey was collected online in February2010 with10,699 respondents across the UAE, KSA, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Males and females of all nationalities aged over20 years were included in the survey.