Dubai: Analysts have predicted that some employees will be receiving salary adjustments of 5 per cent to 5.5 per cent this year despite speculations that Gulf companies will be implementing some cutbacks due to falling oil prices. But not everyone will be on the pay hike list and the question in most people’s minds is who will be the lucky ones getting the financial reward.
GulfTalent polled 600 employers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region between December 2014 and April 2015 and found that while weaker crude prices had taken their toll on the oil and gas sector, many companies are still going ahead with planned salary increases.
“Across most of the GCC, private sector salaries are forecast to rise at a similar pace in 2015 compared with the previous year,” the recruitment specialist said in a statement released this week.
People working in the construction industry are predicted to have the highest average salary increase at 10 per cent, while those in the oil and gas sector are likely to receive the lowest increase at 5.4 per cent.
GulfTalent did not specify which positions will be getting the increase.
But the forecast is in line with the data from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), which recorded a 10 per cent increase in the value of GCC projects awarded during the first three months of the year, compared to a year earlier.
According to the ADCB report, however, the increase is primarily driven by Qatar and Kuwait. All the other countries in the GCC, however, have incurred a slump in project awards, with Oman and UAE registering the lowest drops at -43.3 per cent and -35.6 per cent, respectively.
Among the GCC states, Qatar is expected to see the highest average pay increase at 8.3 per cent, as employers are under pressure to attract talent for completion of existing projects and help alleviate rising cost of living.
Oman, which is facing pressures from an increasingly unionized workforce, is likely to grant the second highest increase at 7.2 per cent on average.
“Saudi Arabia and the UAE are next, with expected average pay rises of 7.1 per cent, followed by Bahrain at 7.0 per cent. Kuwait is expected to see the lowest average pay rise at 5.0 per cent,” GulfTalent said.
NaukriGulf, another recruitment specialist, had reported earlier that companies in the GCC granted as much as 15 per cent salary increase in 2014.
Consulting company Mercer said that pay rises for employees this year should be around 5 per cent to 5.5 per cent.
