Salaries in UAE are expected to rise by 4.8% next year, according to a global survey, released Monday.
Employers are planning an average salary increase of 4.8% in 2015, shows data from the annual Global Salary Increase Survey, conducted by Aon Hewitt, a US-based provider of human capital and management consulting services. The report includes predictions for almost 13,000 companies and organizations across 110 countries, including 177 in the UAE. The latest figures are slightly down from the average across the GCC – 5.1% rise in paychecks for 2015, with the highest increase of 5.4% reported by employers in Oman and Saudi Arabia. In comparison, companies in Qatar plan for 5.2% rise, Kuwait – 5.3%, while Bahrain will see only 4.5% increase in 2015.
The projected 4.8% increase in salaries in the UAE is also lower than forecasts made for 2013 and 2014 – 5.1% and 5% rise, respectively. Apparently, there is a trend for more moderate planning among companies in the UAE, as for 2012, the projected pay rise was 5.2%. However, employees received an actual average increase of salaries of 4.6% in 2014, so there is no guarantee whether companies will stick to their planned budgets for the next year. Until now, predicted salary increase have always been higher than the actual annual hikes, not only in the UAE, but across the GCC economies.
The economic growth of the country would normally mean that people’s incomes will improve, as well. But the rising cost of living – food prices, rents and utility costs, combined with the annual inflation rate (3.53% in Dubai as of August 2014), will probably eat up the salary rise for most employees.
