Revealed: Gulf Expat Salaries Up Nearly 8%

Following an overall decrease in salary seen in last year’s Gulf Business Salary Survey, there was positive momentum for the 2015 edition, with pay packets for our list of positions rising across the board.

Average salary across all countries, positions and racial groups in our 2015 survey rose 7.88 per cent, increasing from $10,392 a month to $11,211 a month.

In Bahrain combined average salaries rose by 4.43 per cent on, from $9,338.33 a month to $9,751.67 a month, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar saw growth of 7 per cent and 7.74 per cent respectively, increasing from $12,126 to $12,978.3 for the former and $11,473 to $12,361 for the latter.

Oman saw similar gains of 7.9 per cent, or $722 a month, from $9,140 to $9,862, while in the neighbouring UAE a significant 9.97 per cent increase was seen, up $1,018 a month from $10,206 last year to $11,224 this year.

Standing at the top of our survey for growth, however, was Kuwait, with average salary for expat professionals rising 10.19 per cent, or $1,025, from $10,064 to $11,090.3.

One major factor driving these increases was significant growth at the CEO/MD of a multinational level, up 39 per cent for Asians from $24,217 in 2014 to $33,861 a month, 32.57 per cent for Arabs from $30,010 to $39,785 and a whopping 45.21 per cent for Westerners from $28,874 to $41,929.

Combined across all three groups, multinational CEO wages were up 39 per cent on average to $38,525, in contrast to last year’s survey where there was an 8.9 per cent dip overall, from $30,407 in 2013 to $27,70 in 2014.

“These people are paid on results and the market is starting to boom,” said Ian Giulianotti, director at Nadia Recruitment Consultants, explaining the significant increase.

“There is also a big influx of certain industries, particularly local food production, that are coming in, and in order to bring their experienced CEOs and managers they are paying premiums above what their current salaries are, so that’s reflected as well.”

The 2015 Salary Survey was compiled based on inputs from regional recruitment companies including Nadia, Charterhouse and Michael Page.

For the full survey, pick up the March edition of Gulf Business, available now.