By Khalid Neimat
AMMAN - A survey by a leading regional job website has found that very few Jordanians are happy with their salaries, reflecting a trend of low-income satisfaction and economic pessimism among workers throughout the region.
The study found that only 4 per cent of Jordanian workers are highly satisfied with their salaries, while nearly two in five are dissatisfied.
The survey concluded that "the picture around the region is similar to that in the Kingdom, with just 6 per cent of employees highly satisfied with their salary".
The Middle East Salary Survey, conducted annually by the job site Bayt.com and the regional research specialist YouGov, is designed to look at the current levels of wages and benefits in the region, as well as to gauge employee opinion and satisfaction levels vis-à-vis the salaries they receive and how these have kept pace with the cost of living.
The survey "helps paint a very clear picture of economic conditions inside a particular country", Bayt.com's Regional Manager Amer Zureikat said.
He added the relevance of such data increases significantly during a time of global economic crisis, as it gives an up-to-date indication of employee sentiment, which can be used to compare people's attitudes and opinions under other financial conditions.
The survey found that nearly 60 per cent of Jordan's employees earn less than $1,000 per month, with nearly half of that figure earning less than $500 per month.
According to the survey, the lowest paid residents in the region are in the North African countries of Algeria, Egypt and Morocco. In Algeria, 54 per cent of residents earn under $500 per month, and just 4 per cent were found near the top of the scale earning between $5,000 and $10,000 per month.
The UAE topped the list in terms of the biggest earners, with 20 per cent earning between $5,000 and $10,000 each month, and 7 per cent earning $10,000 and above.
Despite the massive fall in oil prices over the past year, salaries within the industry have apparently been unaffected, according to the survey, which highlighted that the most highly satisfied industry workers were found in the oil, gas and petrochemical sector.
Workers in education, government, civil service and transportation reported the lowest income satisfaction.
The survey also revealed that across the region, the average salary increase did not reflect the rise in the cost of living.
The biggest disparity was found in Jordan, where salary increases ran 24 per cent lower than increases in cost of living, confirming previous research that found the Levant to be the hardest hit by this discrepancy.
Jordan also reported the lowest savings rate, according to the survey, with nearly one-half of Jordanians reporting that they saved nothing from their monthly salaries, compared to a regional average of about a quarter.
The best savers were found in Bahrain and Oman, where 83 per cent of residents saved at least some of their salary.
The study additionally revealed that across the Middle East, 77 per cent of residents feel they have been hard hit by the global economic crisis.
In Jordan, just over one in five stated that they had felt no effects, compared to 37 per cent in Oman.
Asked how they felt about the current economic climate in terms of the labour market, more than a quarter of Jordanians said they were quite pessimistic about future growth and job availability, while 20 per cent believe that companies will continue to hire, but salaries will decline.
Data for the 2008/2009 Salary Survey was collected online in December 2008 and January 2009 with 13,881 respondents across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Males and females of all nationalities aged over 20 years were included in the survey.
