All eyes on hike in salaries

Last year, our online readers overwhelmingly declared their biggest concern for 2007 was rent. Many complained that skyrocketing rents sometimes exceeded people's salaries.

It is safe to say that little has changed since. A year later, we asked our readers to look back at 2007 and gauge what they thought impacted their lives the most. Not surprisingly, cost of living was their top choice, followed by rent and traffic. This could be attributed to the dirham's peg to the dollar, which wasn devalued considerably in 2007.

We also reported that consumer prices of all sorts of goods including various foods have noticeably risen over the past year. Education costs in the private sector have also increased. And of course, rents across the nation continue to rise because of house supply shortage.

The most desired solution to people's concerns? Salary increases. This comes in light of last month's announcement that all federal government employees will get a 70 per cent salary hike starting this month. UAE residents are united in their view that there should be an increase in salaries across the board for the new year in order to cope with the rising costs of living. This they say, will enable people to cope with the country's inflation.

Gulf news readers say ...

Finding jobs in field of study

"Increasing rent is a major challenge for young Emiratis who have to rent houses because it is initially too expensive to buy one.

The government should put a proper mechanism to regulate and combat price hikes across all the emirates so that salaries would also be synchronised accordingly. In this way, not only Emiratis can benefit from an overall better standard of living, but expatriates as well.

It is true that there are plenty of jobs in the country, but I still fear that I won't be able to find a job in my field of specialisation as many young Emiratis study subject that are not of high demand in the market."
Mohammad Mubarak
Student, UAE

Rent deprives us of savings

"Buying property is the only way people can continue to save in Dubai in the light of the recent inflation manifested mainly in skyrocketing rent.

Rent has become a burden for people working in Dubai depriving them from all their potential savings and exhausting their incomes and the only thing you can do to avoid this is to buy a property.

Another concern is the amount I have to spend for the cost of living. It is still possible to save in Dubai, but you need a change of lifestyle which can only be done through a change in mentality. The problem is that many people have developed a consumerist approach in life, which makes them addicted to shopping and spending money unnecessarily."
Mohammad Daher
Sales Manager, Lebanon

Prices need to be regulated

"I hope that a salary increment is on the cards for this coming year as it would be a necessary tool to combat the cost of living namely the skyrocketing rent. The salaries are also imbalanced compared to the costs of housing, education and food.

Everything has become costlier in the past few years and there is no proper price mechanism in the market. One supermarket will sell a pot of honey for Dh3, and then when I go to another supermarket down the road the same pot is sold for double the price.

The authorities should provide a proper mechanism to control salaries and rent. The substantial rise of prices three years ago convinced my family to buy a house as a last resort to escape the rent hikes."

Toktam Sh.
Mother, Iran

Rent burdens expatriates

"The increasing rent is my biggest concern for the coming year. In the last five years my rent has almost doubled making accommodation costs in this country a burden many people cannot handle and really hampering our savings.
My rent has almost doubled in five years but what choice do I have. I will continue to pay and bear the costs. Food has also increased to 25 per cent, and with the burden of the rising rents, it has become less appealing to expatriates to stay in the country although the country has many brilliant career offers.

I expect rent to be a concern not only for this coming year but for several years to come."
Rommel Rodrigues
Manager, India