A Comparison of Expat Salaries in the

Middle East
Expat salaries in the Middle East : How much will I earn?
Over the last couple of decades a huge amount of expats have relocated to the Middle East,
drawn there primarily by the promise of tax-free expat salary packages, exciting and dynamic job
markets and the promise of a high quality of life and big savings.
This article will provide a survey of the most popular expat destinations in the Middle East, the
most common jobs that expats work in the Gulf Region, and the average salaries they can expect
to earn. It will conclude by drawing attention to a number of pertinent factors that should be
considered when deciding whether a move to the Middle East is right for you or not.
Popular Expat Destinations in the Middle East
The most popular expat destinations in the Middle East all belong to the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC). Of these countries, Saudi Arabia is the most popular; followed by (in order) the
United Arab Emirates (containing both Dubai and Abu Dhabi), Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and
Bahrain.
As an indication of why these countries are so popular for expats, consider the following
statistics:
 98% of expats in Saudi Arabia claim they have more disposable income than they ever did
back home; while 94% say the same thing about Qatar and 87% of the UAE.
 92% of expats in Qatar say they save more money at the end of every month than they did back
home; while expats in Saudi Arabia (89%), Bahrain (88%) and the UAE (80%) are in strong
agreement with this idea.
 94% of expats in the UAE say they pay less tax than in their country of origin – and the figure
is above 85% for all the other GCC nations as well.
Expat jobs in the Middle East

By far and away, the majority of expats working in the Middle

East are employed in the private sector (83%), by large multinational companies (27%) or large
local companies (21%). The backbone of the Gulf Region's wealth is its energy resources, and so
unsurprisingly most expat jobs will be in some way related to the oil, gas or mining industries.

By job position, the most widely-held expat jobs in the Middle East are (in descending order of
popularity): accountant, manager, engineer, executive, coordinator, civil engineer, senior
executive, director, salesperson, mechanical engineer, analyst and junior executive.
In terms of job industries, the current job market – not taking into account all job industries, but
just the most popular ones for expats in the Middle East – looks most promising for those
working in the following disciplines (the percentage of the advertised jobs as compared to the
overall job market is noted in parentheses) : engineering (22%), sales and marketing (20%)
management (18%), accounting/banking/finance (12%), IT and communications (9%),
healthcare (6%), administration (6%), education (4%), and arts/design (3%).
Expat Salaries in the Middle East
The following table illustrates average expat salaries for a variety of jobs in the Middle East
region. Please note that while a great deal of research has been undertaken to ensure the validity
of these figures, earnings will vary, and are affected by such factors as nationality, years of
experience and relevant qualifications. Note further that salaries are increasing in the Gulf
Region at an average rate of 6.6%, and within individual countries as follows: Qatar at 6.8%,
Saudi Arabia at 6.7%, Oman at 6.4%, Kuwait at 5.7%, the UAE at 5.2% and Bahrain at 4.9%.

Also note that, while it may be unfair, in the Middle East western expats generally earn more
than their eastern counterparts. The figures given below are for western expats working in the
Middle East.
(Basic salaries quoted in US$ per month; these salaries are paid to you tax-free and largely
without deduction)

Middle East Expat Salary Survey

Middle
Saudi
Job Description Bahrain Kuwait UAE Oman Qatar East
Arabia
Average

General Manager
(Multinational 12,500 15,000 15,000 15,000 12,500 12,500 13,750
Company)

General Manager
10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000
(Local Company)

Head of Information
7,500 9,167 9,167 9,167 7,500 7,500 8,334
Technology

Accountant 7,500 8,000 8,500 8,000 7,500 7,500 7,833

 Business
Development 9,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 8,500 9,000 9,417
Manager

Banking –Head of
10,833 16,250 13,452 10,833 10,833 10,833 12,187
Operations

Banking – Branch
9,700 15,000 12,750 9,700 9,700 9,700 11,092
Manager

Creative Arts Director 6,618 11,904 8,303 8,662 6,447 7,592 8,254

Sales Manager 7,000 9,000 8,000 8,000 7,000 7,000 7,667

Construction Project
Manager/Chief 10,000 11,667 11,667 11,667 10,000 10,000 10,834
Engineer

Executive
4,000 5,700 5,500 5,000 4,000 4,000 4,700
Secretary/PA

ESL Teacher 2,000 3,000 2,500 2,000 2,500 2,600 2,433

Country Averages
9,651 12,730 11,478 10,904 10,048 9,727 10,696
for Expat Employees

Further Considerations for Expats moving to the Middle East

 Expats are urged to keep up-to-date with the current economic climate in the Middle East
before deciding on relocation. The Gulf Region's heavy dependence on oil revenues, coupled
with the weakening US Dollar, has seen the cost of living in most GCC Countries rise at a far
greater rate than salary increases in recent years.
 Middle Eastern countries are trying to curb their dependency on foreign labour and have started
to hire locally wherever possible, and to offer increasingly less attractive expat salary packages.
 Bear in mind that although the prospect of earning and saving lots of money is indeed
appealing, expats must also factor in the quality of the life they will lead in the Middle East.
For some western expats, the need to adopt a different mode of behaviour in the Islamic states
of the Gulf Region is not worth the salary they receive at the end of every month. (On this note,
Bahrain, the UAE and Oman are certainly the most 'open' of the GCC countries, and offer the
most comfortable transition for western expats.)
 With these considerations in mind, many analysts have identified Asia as the new hot
destination for expats looking to live and work abroad. A quarter of expats currently living and
working in Asia earn more than US$200,000 per annum.