CAIRO: According to a recent survey, 52 percent of respondents in the Middle East say they are averagely satisfied with their remuneration. The survey, conducted by top job site Bayt.com in combination with research specialists YouGov Siraj, also found that 45 percent have low satisfaction in their remuneration and only just 3 percent claimed to be highly satisfied. In Egypt, only 4 percent claimed high satisfaction, 59 percent reported medium satisfaction and 37 percent said they had low satisfaction with their remuneration. Recent events in Egypt and the region highlight growing economic and political discontent, which have prompted citizens to take to the streets in protest. Egypt has been through a tumultuous couple of months that have seen a disruption in economic activity after an uprising that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak splintered off into workers' strikes in all sectors, mainly calling for better wages. The Middle East Salary Survey is conducted annually and data was collected online in February 2011 surveying 8,565 participants across the MENA region over 20 years old. Throughout the Gulf and wider Middle East, a high of 5 percent of professionals in Kuwait asserted high satisfaction with salaries with only 2 percent of respondents in Jordan and Lebanon reporting high satisfaction. According to the survey, the average monthly salary differs significantly from country to country throughout MENA. The highest number of professionals with the largest salaries was documented in Qatar with about 10 percent earning at least $8,001 or more per month. In Bahrain, a reported 9 percent of professionals earn more than $8,001 per month, as well as 6 percent in Oman, 5 percent in Kuwait and only 3 percent in Saudi Arabia. Those in the North African region were among the lowest earning professionals in Algeria, Egypt and Morocco while the total number of those receiving the lowest salary level rose in each country. In Algeria, about 56 percent are earning under $500 per month in comparison with 50 percent from last year in 2010. A reported 53 percent of professionals in Egypt gross up to $500 per month and 45 percent of those in Morocco. Only one percent of professionals in both Morocco and Egypt earn more than $8,000 per month. “There is a very high demand for accurate figures on salary levels in the Middle East across industries, job roles and career levels as we have witnessed with the tremendous uptake of the Bayt.com online Salary Calculator tool which has been the MENA region's first pan-regional pan-industrial comprehensive online salary tool,” Bayt.com's Vice President of Sales Amer Zureikat was cited as saying. “This year we have seen an increase in the number of the lowest salary professionals in the North Africa region which could indicate that low wages were also part of the reasons that sparked the recent uprise against governments in the region.” With the current situation, the outlook on the job market and wages is quite uncertain while the government has recently pledged its commitment to aiding in the unemployment and minimum wage situation. "I think the bigger issue for any new government will be how to tackle unemployment and underemployment, it will be a priority,” said Mike Millar, head of research at Cairo-based investment firm Naeem Holding. “The numbers are a bit meaningless in the way they are presented, I think more conclusions could be drawn if, for example, the responses were broken down by income segment,” he added. The cost of living for professionals across the Middle East has increased by 24.6 percent, but the average salary only increased by 7.6 percent, which is more than two thirds less. The biggest disparity between increase in living costs and salary raise resulted in Egypt where cost of living increased by 30 percent and salaries only increased by just 9.4 percent. A good portion of respondents, 38 percent, did not see a pay rise this year throughout the region. In Egypt, only 4 percent of professionals said they were very happy with their salary increase, 10 percent very unhappy, 22 percent unhappy and 9 percent reported their increase as fair considering the current economic situation. Even with the discontent reported in salary increases, those surveyed still consider themselves better off than other when looking at quality of life in their country compared to their peers. About 33 percent of those in Egypt said they are better off than others, only 47 percent said they were average and about 15 percent said they were worse off.
