The supply of highly skilled workers is falling short of demand, Khaleej Times reports
Businesses across the UAE need to plan ahead for the next few years as the shortage of highly skilled workers in the region will result in a substantial increase in salaries, experts predicted.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, experts at Korn Ferry highlighted the results of ‘The Salary Surge’ report, which noted that several global economies, including the UAE, will have to pay more in salaries to attract and retain highly specialised talent. Unless certain actions are taken, organisations around the world could add more than $2.5 trillion to their annual cost of labour by 2030. Over $593 billion of this amount will be added by companies in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (Emea) region alone.
In the UAE, while overall wage increases are just keeping pace with inflation, salaries for in-demand workers could add as much as $5.9 billion to the total national payroll by 2030, a nine per cent increase. The ‘TMT’ sector faces the greatest challenges in the UAE, with a potential wage premium of $1.124 billion, followed by ‘Financial and Business Services’ at $612 million.
Suhail Masri, VP of employer solutions at Bayt.com, said there is optimism in the market right now on salaries in the UAE increasing. “The Bayt.com Middle East and North Africa Salary Survey, conducted among working men and women in the UAE in partnership with YouGov, revealed that 66 per cent of respondents in the UAE believe that salaries are either increasing or staying the same. At the same time, 56 per cent of employees in the UAE expect to receive a raise in 2018, with 27 per cent expecting a raise of up to 10 per cent.”