Majority Of UAE Workers Expect Pay Rise

According to a new survey, 63 per cent of UAE employees expect to receive a salary hike in the next 12 months.

The research, conducted by jobsite Bayt.com and research firm YouGov, also found that 60 per cent of the respondents had received a pay rise in the last year. However, 44 per cent said that were either unhappy or very unhappy with their increase.

“Six out of ten respondents in the UAE state that their current compensation is lower than that offered by other companies in the same industry,” Bayt said in a statement.

85 per cent of the survey respondents said that the cost of living in the UAE has increased in the last 12 months (between December 2010 and December 2011), with 43 per cent stating that costs have risen by 15 per cent or more.

74 per cent of respondents also believed that the cost of living will continue to increase in the coming year.

On average, the survey found that while respondents received a 6.63 per cent wage hike in the past year, cost of living has increased by an average of 19.46 per cent.

“The survey’s results suggest that companies are still feeling the effects of the economic downturn, as they are not fully catering to the financial expectations of their employees or to their employees’ perceptions of the rising cost of living across the region,” Suhail Masri, vice president of Sales, Bayt.com said in the statement.

The survey also found that while 37 per cent of UAE workers were able to save more than 15 per cent of their monthly salary, a quarter of workers were unable to generate any savings in the current climate.