Salary Survey 2018

Following a series of major changes relating to taxation, legislation and economic performance over the last 12 months, Gulf Business explores how the regional pay packet has been impacted

- Robert Anderson

Just as the Gulf economies have undergone dramatic changes in recent months, including the introduction of value added tax and fee increases, we too felt it was time to shake up our annual Salary Survey.

While the format has served us well over the years, and offered a unique insight into the compensation expats could expect for a number of key roles, it was increasingly apparent that the included positions were not entirely reflective of the job market as we move towards the end of the decade.

In addition, a focus on largely management roles meant it offered less insight for the majority of the workforce, who are further down the ladder.

Our new streamlined Salary Survey for 2018 aims to address these issues in a simplified format that should prove relevant for the years to come as the gaps between Asian, Arabic and Western wages shrink.

Among the most noticeable changes has been the inclusion of the new lower tier positions such as human resources executive, logistics executive, sales executive and receptionist.

This meant that the overall average monthly salary this year of $8,083 is 26.3 per cent lower than that seen last year, with some quite substantial differences in some countries.

For example, the Saudi average was down 34.21 per cent, the Kuwait average 27.73 per cent, the UAE average 26.74 per cent, while for Bahrain it was down 25.18 per cent and Oman 25.2 per cent.

The use of a single survey for expatriates rather than three split by Asian, Arabic and Western also meant salaries were down considerably for some positions but, interestingly, not all.

Towards the top of the table, the monthly average salary for an IT manager – compared to an average of the three expat groups from last year – was down 39.17 per cent from $12,430 to $7,561.

It was a similar story for the editor position, down 24.68 per cent from $6,535 to $4,922, and human resources manager