Mena cost of living outpaces wages

Cost of living in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) has risen by 24.6 per cent while average salary increased by just 7.6 per cent – more than two thirds less, according to a Bayt.com survey released on Wednesday.

In Qatar respondents felt the cost of living had increased by 20.6 per cent, while salaries had increased by just 7.4 per cent.

For the most part, the Mena respondents did not receive a pay rise, with a sizeable 38 per cent missing out on a pay rise. In Qatar, just four per cent of professionals said they were very happy with their salary increase, seven per cent were very unhappy, 14 per cent consider themselves as unhappy, and 4 per cent agreed that their pay rise was fair given the economic circumstances.

Across the Mena region, the average monthly salary differs considerably from country to country, the survey found. However, Qatar recorded the highest number of professionals with the biggest salaries in the region, with 10 per cent earning $8,001 (Dh29,400) or more each month.

Furthermore, the best savers were respondents in Qatar - 36 per cent of those surveyed managing to save between 16 per cent and 75 per cent of their salaries each month.  However, as found in previous Bayt.com research, professionals resoundingly felt that the average salary increase did not reflect the rise in the cost of living in any of the surveyed countries.

“This is a clear indication as to why HR practitioners and professionals alike need firm measures and benchmarks such as those provided by the annual Bayt.com Salary Survey analysis and Bayt.com’s new online Salary tool to gauge market levels and trends before setting internal salary levels. These roundtables hosted by Bayt.com – lend themselves to being deep, informative, firmly locally oriented and to look beyond the obvious”, said Amer Zureikat, VP Sales, Bayt.com.

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