Wages tipped to rise in the UAE this year

174 UAE organisations, and more than 500 from the Middle East, submitted information to the annual survey carried out by Aon Hewitt. Silvia Razgova / The National

ABU DHABI // Wages in the country are expected to rise by more than five per cent next year, according to a survey.

The Middle East Salary Increase Survey 2012 results, announced today, suggest there will be an average salary increase of 5.1 per cent in 2013 for UAE employees.

Most of the local organisations which took part in the survey offer pay rises based on employee performance. Pharmaceutical and chemical sectors expect a 5.8 per cent increase this year, compared to a 4.1 per cent rise in the machinery and equipment sector. At 8.1 per cent, banks provided the biggest increase in the professional services sector, with the smallest - at just 2.5 per cent, coming from transportation, logistics and shipping services.

A total of 174 UAE organisations, and more than 500 from the Middle East, submitted information to the annual survey carried out by Aon Hewitt, the global human resources business of Aon plc.

"All macro indicators have shown that the economic scenario continues to move in a positive direction with corporates continuing to show confidence in the 2013 economic outlook.

"At large, there are no further reductions in the salary increase projections for the next year which is good news for employees. We have also observed that organisations have increasingly been linking salary increases to performance, which is a healthy trend and indicates the increasing maturity level of the market," said Martin McGuigan, head of reward consulting, Aon Hewitt Middle East.

In the GCC, an average salary jump of 5.4 per cent was projected for 2013, the same as the one made in 2011 for this year.

For the Middle East as a whole, the projection was a 6.08 per cent salary rise for 2013 and fewer organisations were considering pay freezes. In the UAE only 1.3 per cent of companies projected a salary freeze for next year, compared to 4.1 per cent in 2012.