Saudi professionals expect 'increase in salaries this year'

RIYADH: More than half of employees in Saudi Arabia expect salaries to increase this year, an annual report released by Hays recruitment firm has found.

The report revealed that nine percent of those working in the kingdom experienced a pay cut last year as a result of the economic turmoil caused by the global coronavirus pandemic, 39 percent of respondents said they had actually received a pay rise in the last 12 months.

Chris Greaves, managing director of Hays in the Middle East, said the outlook for salaries and Saudi Arabia’s overall jobs market in 2021 is even more positive.

“Saudi Arabia has not been exempt from the negative impacts of Covid-19. Indeed, lockdown measures and consequential reductions in energy prices forced a number of organisations in the country to make redundancies and reduce salaries in a bid to remain operational,” said Chris Greaves, managing director of Hays in the Middle East.

“Salary offerings have always been fundamental to attraction strategies in Saudi Arabia but we expect this to be of even greater precedence in 2021 with the upcoming Iqama reforms,” Greaves said.

The survey found both pay cuts and redundancies to be comparatively lower in Saudi Arabia than in other regions.