Salaries in Gulf shun prolonged hiccups

The salaries in the Gulf region skirted the international financial downturn and the economic impact of the Arab spring over the past year, the "2012 Gulf Business Salary Survey" conducted by Gulfbusiness.com. showed.

As the region’s economy recovery continues apace, the sales and marketing managers are bringing home the highest salaries in 2012, earning an average monthly wage of $11,560, the survey said.

The survey of Middle East jobs was done taking the average salary for the Western, Asian and Arab expats across different sectors in the Gulf countries during the first quarter of 2012.

The human resources managers were taking home the second highest salaries in the Gulf region at around $11,468.6 per month, it added.

However, the survey found that HR was the only industry that witnessed a dramatic average salary drop year-on-year, with companies scaling back the function of HR departments.

In her comments, Alicia Buller, the editor of gulfbusiness.com, pointed said the employment in the Middle East had largely mapped the upward fate of the GCC economy.

"Although HR managers earn the second highest salaries in the region at around $11,468.6 per month, human resources was the only industry that witnessed a dramatic average salary drop year-on-year," she noted.

As a result, expatriate HR managers in the UAE, saw their wages slashed by 37 percent, she added.

Christo Daniels, managing director of recruiter Morgan McKinley, said the roles like organizational design, payroll and recruitment were all represented in HR headcount, but now have been rolled into one HR generalist role.

Explaining the dramatic decline, Christo said "the market has corrected itself. So we’re back to pre-2008 salary levels for those in the HR sector."

Supporting a recent survey by Gulf Business, which saw CEO’s salaries in Saudi Arabia topping the salaries list, this again is the case across all of the sectors where Saudi comes out on top.

The survey said Qatar witnessed the highest growth in salaries mainly in the construction and interior design sector.

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