Are Jobs in Dubai Still Attractive?
Hot on the heels of our latest blog entry on jobs in Dubai, Bayt.com released its latest Middle East Consumer Confidence Index research report, conducted in conjunction with YouGovSiraj. The Bayt.com YouGovSiraj May CCI study showed a drop in confidence across the region dipping by 7 index points in Qatar, 3 points in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and 9 points in the UAE as compared to January 2008 levels. In the UAE, 61% of respondents maintained salaries have not kept pace with inflation and 46% maintained they are unhappy with current compensation levels. Moreover there was a significant drop in the propensity to consume in the UAE with only 19% of consumers considering today as a good time to purchase consumer durable goods and 29% considering it a bad time.
The question on jobseekers minds today is does the UAE and the GCC in general remain an attractive place to live and work despite rampant inflation and declining confidence levels – and the answer is an unequivocal yes! The reasons for our optimism are manifold.
Jobs in Dubai
Talk in the workplace cafeteria today is largely about the new visit visa fees just announced in the Dubai newspapers and whether these will have any impact on the attractiveness of Dubai as a work destination of choice for skilled professionals from around the region and beyond. The new fee approved for the six-month multiple entry visa is UAE Dirhams 2,000 however under this category visitors would not be allowed to stay for more than 14 days in the country on each visit. The new visit visas will be of two types: the long stay (three months) that would cost UAE Dirhams 1,000 and the short stay (one month) that would cost UAE Dirhams 500.
Speculation is rife about whether this will have an immediate and adverse impact on the competitiveness of Dubai as a workplace of choice particularly as many jobseekers initially come to Dubai on visit visas to search for jobs in Dubai. In all likelihood it will not. Dubai has emerged as a global business hub and a nucleus of regional commercial/economic activity. The attractiveness of Dubai as a place to live and work is as robust as ever and the demand for top jobs with Dubai’s leading employers shows no sign of abating any more than does the race for top talent that is competitive by global standards to fill the ranks of the prospering local success stories. Long gone are the days when companies had to pay a hardship premium to attract seasoned professionals (its hard to believe that these days even existed); today salary premiums are dictated by the ambitious standards the local corporations have set for themselves in terms of required minimum qualifications and expertise as well as the fierce competition for top talent.
Are Middle East Salaries Keeping Pace with Inflation?
According to the 2008 Human Resource Overview, a Middle East salary survey conducted by Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj, Middle East salaries have struggled to keep pace with local cost-of-living increases to varying levels over the past year. More people in the GCC countries of the UAE, KSA, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman expressed high to medium levels of satisfaction with their current salaries than those expressing low levels of satisfaction, however generally, the perception was that there was room for improvement in salaries across the region.
