UAE salary rises forecast to average 4.8% in 2013

By Andy Sambidge
  • Saturday, 23 February 2013 10:09 AM
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Salaries in the UAE are forecast to rise by an average of 4.8 percent this year, according to the latest update to Aon Hewitt's annual Middle East Salary Increase Survey.

The increase compared to an average rise of 5.2 percent last year, the global human resources company said.

The report also revealed that no participating UAE firms were planning a hiring freeze in 2013.

It showed that 97.2 percent of UAE companies surveyed have ruled out making any redundancies in 2013 while 41 percent are looking to increase recruitment this year compared to 2012.

Data from the survey confirmed that the average salary increase across all sectors in the UAE in 2012 was consistent with levels predicted by participating organisations during 2011.

The winter update showed that the 50-plus UAE companies surveyed revised their forecast of average salary increases during 2013 from 5.1 percent to 4.8 percent.

"The results indicate an underlining stability in the market with relatively consistent rates of increase and overall growth in salaries year-on-year," Aon Hewitt said in a statement.

It added that while most UAE firms based salary increases on market competitiveness others reported that business performance, inflation and consumer prices also influenced decisions.

Martin McGuigan, head of reward consulting at Aon Hewitt Middle East, said: “We continue to see a growing trend towards performance-based pay.

"It is to be expected that merit-based pay will become more prevalent as the UAE employment market continues to mature, giving organisations a means of capping their pay budget in accordance with business performance.”

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Posted by: sajid Sunday, 9 June 2013 9:43 PM[UAE] - UAE

Mr Andy Sambidge how much money u are paid by UAE based companies for writing this article.Dnt give wrong information my dear.Expats in UAE are not fools to read stupid thing and dreams about what u write.We know this country better than you.

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Posted by: Withheld Man Wednesday, 3 April 2013 10:31 AM[UAE] - United Arab Emirates

That is not true. We at Dubai Chamber are hiring at an average of 5 employees every month. We hold the statistical data that Dubai's hiring is on the rise in 2013.

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Posted by: Mike Sunday, 24 February 2013 11:17 AM[UAE] - UAE

This article is completely false. As someone in the job market now, and speaking with many recruiters -- Aon Hewitt is on no one's radar -- there are very few new jobs above a junior level, and companies continue to not hire even though they don't say there's a hiring freeze in place. I'm bitter, sure, but my experience is fact-based. Companies in UAE are not hiring, and in fact the financial services sector will continue to lay people off. I can't believe that AB isn't picking up on what's happening on the ground.

Posted by: Steven Tuesday, 11 June 2013 1:33 PM[UAE] - UAE

Dear Mike,

Now don't you go writing negative things about the wonderful world of Dubai (I assume that is where you were writing about because in AD the info is just not usually available)
Actually in reality the facts are not available in Dubai either, just a never ending stream of publicity, which is of course what Dubai is built on.

So take care when you write something negative like that, the people living in their 'Dubai Bubble' will never believe you and they may have you taken away in a padded wagon.

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