UAE salary guide: how much should you be earning across public and private sectors in Dubai and Abu Dhabi?

The Covid-19 pandemic caused major disruptions to the global jobs market last year, but sentiments towards UAE salaries for 2021 look promising.

A new report by Hays recruitment agency showed that 44 per cent of respondents in the UAE expect a pay rise in the next 12 months.

Just over half are confident their pay package will remain the same, while only two per cent foresee a cut coming their way.

The results are surprising, considering the global salary cuts and redundancies in 2020, due to strict lockdowns.

However, recruitment experts are hopeful the market is set for a rebound – even if a little slower than normal, due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19.

“We do not expect the pandemic to negatively affect salaries in 2021,” said Samantha Wright, senior recruitment consultant with Hays.

“This view is reflected by professionals working in the UAE, with 53 per cent expecting their salary to remain the same, year-on-year in 2021, 44 expecting an increase and two per cent expecting a decrease.”

Going forward, Ms Wright said IT specialists with digital technology and data-driven skill-sets will be the “most in-demand professionals in the market in 2021”.

This is due to the UAE government’s ongoing focus on digitisation and automation.

Positions that invite a big salary package include IT directors and managers, as well as digital marketing managers.

In late 2020, the government embarked on one of the biggest overhauls of the legal system in years, with changes to family law and other areas affecting people's daily lives announced.

The laws reflect progressive measures to improve living standards for both nationals and residents in the UAE.

As a result, the legal sector is likely to be a part of the economy's rebound efforts, with more opportunities for legal advisers, legal secretaries and paralegals likely this year.

As part of the Hays 2021 Emiratisation Salary and Employment report, experts have mapped out a salary guide that Emiratis can use to benchmark their salary packages against others in the region.

The salaries have been broken down into three categories – the private sector and the public sector in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The report clearly shows that public sector organisations in Abu Dhabi pay the highest salaries to UAE nationals – sometimes more than 40 per cent higher than private organisations.

How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now

Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.

The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.

1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):

a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33

b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.

2. For those who have worked more than five years

c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.

Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.

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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers

Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.

It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.

The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.

Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.

Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.

He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”

A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.

Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.

Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.

Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.

By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.

Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.

In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”

Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.

She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.

Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.

Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Michael Ignatieff
Harvard University Press

Points tally

1. Australia 52; 2. New Zealand 44; 3. South Africa 36; 4. Sri Lanka 35; 5. UAE 27; 6. India 27; 7. England 26; 8. Singapore 8; 9. Malaysia 3