New poll suggests salary hike in Saudi Arabia in 2019

Saudi Arabia is expected to see the highest real salary increase in 2019, Korn Ferry 2019 Salary Forecast revealed.

“While the Middle East continues to face a similar inflationary pressure as we are seeing across the globe, key financial centers should see improved performance in 2019,” Vijay Gandhi, regional director – Europe, Middle East & Africa at Korn Ferry Products, said.

“Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are expected to outpace the region in terms of real salary increases, with both showing significant year-on-year increases,” he added.

“With the inflation rate in Saudi Arabia anticipated to increase by 2.3 percent and salaries expected to rise at a rate of 4.9 percent, the real salary increase is forecasted at 2.6 percent in 2019. That’s significantly greater than the 0.1 percent increase forecasted for 2018,” Gandhi noted.

In the Middle East, the report highlighted that wages are expected to increase by 3.6 percent, compared to 3.8 percent in 2018.

“Inflation-adjusted wage increases are predicted to be 0.4 percent, compared to 0.9 percent last year and 2.5 percent the year before,” the report mentioned.