best – and the worst – pay hikes in UAE

First, the good news: After two dismal years of salary-freezes, pay-cuts and layoffs, 2012 was definitely much better for the majority of employees in the UAE.

An average pay-hike of 5 to 6 per cent (based on the figures released by top recruitment agencies in the country) indicates that confidence in the corporate world is returning.

Barring some exceptional cases, double-digit hikes (like yesteryears) remained a distant dream for most, but the still-reasonable hikes that employees received in 2012 augur well for the New Year.

The average 5 to 6 per cent-band, however, hides within itself a range of variations, in that employees in certain sectors of the economy got a much better deal than some others.

Consequently, some sectors performed much better than others and this saw those employees taking home fatter paychecks this year.

On the other hand, there were, indeed, a handful of industries that didn’t fare well, and doled out low increments that were hardly sufficient to keep up with the rising cost of living.

Even though it’s still an employer’s market, a number of companies are now taking steps to ensure that they do not suffer from a high employee turnover as the local job market improves. Resultantly, pay-hike is, once again, becoming the norm now, albeit in single digits.