Students in UAE have the highest salary expectations in the world

The compensation anticipated by the young and uprising “talent” varies significantly around the globe, while its cost may weigh on the minds of those hiring and training the best and brightest new employees.

According to a report released by global research and advisory firm Universum, achieving optimum talent attraction requires that employers provide competitive wages, but they do not want to overpay. If you are an employer, you have to match your branding and wages with the salary expectations of the country, market and individual wage earner.

To compile this ranking, the company surveyed salary expectations of business students across 50 countries. Where were expectations the highest? The United Arab Emirates! Business students in the U.A.E. expected to earn annual salaries equivalent to $82,538.

In fact, compensation-focused optimism proved especially strong in the Gulf States and across northern Europe. Swiss business students were almost as optimistic as those in the U.A.E., expecting annual salaries of $81,815, while their peers in Saudi Arabia expected $77,854 per year.

Expectations drop off slightly after that, with business students in Norway hoping to bring in $58,561 and those in Denmark rounding out the top five with expected salaries of $57,502.

The U.S. comes in seventh on the list. American business students demonstrate far more modest expectations than some of their international counterparts, hoping to earn $49,469 per year. (For comparison, the 2014 mean annual wage across all occupations in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was $47,230.)

But not all business students see their hypothetical future paycheck through rose-colored specs. At the other end of the spectrum, business students in Ukraine expect to earn just $5,283 each year. Those in Vietnam have a similar outlook, anticipating $6,637, while students in Ghana and Indonesia expect just under $9,000.