The Comprehensive Guide to Average Salaries in Saudi Arabia
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Hashim Sheikh
- . July 3, 2024
- . Update: July 3, 2024 4:16 pm
This guide covers all aspects of salaries in Saudi Arabia and could prove helpful for employers, employment seekers as well as analysts. Starting with the concepts of average wages and factors affecting it, we move on to minimum wages legislations and top paid professions in the Kingdom. The article also reviews the gender wage gaps, annual wage increase patterns, and Saudi Arabia salaries vs the world. Being dedicated to presenting a clear vision of the role offer market of Saudi Arabia, this guide is an ideal source for those, who are interested in economics of the country.
Average Wages
The average monthly wage earner in KSA is roughly SAR 10,000; however, these rates fluctuate with the sector as well as the positions employees are getting hired for. Core business cities such as Riyadh and Jeddah pay more than other areas of KSA. Some of the business fields that offer better and higher salaries are the oil and gas, health care and executive management while those on the lower end and even below the national wage level are the services industry. However, this average involves basic pay accompanied by other ordinary allowances such as accommodation allowance and transport allowance among others.
Factors Influencing Salaries
There are several pre-determinants that influence the salary levels in Saudi Arabia as highlighted next. They are the industry and occupation, the personnel’s experience and rank, education, location, company’s size and ownership, personnel’s nationality and expatriate status, availability and demand for the required skills, economic conditions, and governmental policies. Now, it is crucial to realize these aspects in order to appreciate appropriate wages determined by employers and negotiate one’s worth in the Saudi Arabia employment sphere by employees.
Gender Wage Gap
As much as Saudi Arabia has begun to progress in women’s rights and in the economic inclusion of women, the phenomenon of wage disparity between females and their male counterparts has not yet been eradicated in the Kingdom. Despite campaigns to boost women’s employment rates, women usually tend to earn less than men due to some reasons such as; women are mostly hired for lower paying jobs and are dominant in certain sectors than men and the community cultural beliefs and work and family responsibilities pressures. Continual steps are made to try and bring the gap closer in order to allow women to be given a better chance in the employment market, thus fulfilling the Kingdom’s aspiration to expand the role of economics as well as social reform.
Highest Paying Occupations
That is Saudi Arabia’s main priorities and the shifts in market requesting the highest remunerated jobs in the Kingdom. There are also some of the high-paid occupations which are surgeons, specialized doctors, CEOs, banking managers, lawyers, IT managers, engineers, pilots, marketing directors, university professors, and project managers. Such positions are normally expected to have acquired higher learning, great working experience, and certain expertise that must be compensated through higher remunerations accompanied by competitive and deserving privileges that unravel their significance in contributing to the economic improvement and progress of Saudi Arabia.
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Annual Average Wage Growth
Annual average wage rate changes in Saudi Arabia are determined by the following factors; Saudi Arabian economic growth, private sector development, public sector reform, expatriate workers, and the country’s labor market domestication strategies. Vision 2030 which is SSA government’s plan to reduce reliance on oil as the main economic cash crop is anticipated to bring changes in the upward salary trends and open up the sectors for other opportunities in the future. Analyzing these wage inflations offer useful information on the Kingdom’s economic performance as well as a perspective of the future characteristics of the Kingdom’s labor market.
Compensation Costs
Premium pay for employees in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia may cover a broad range of remuneration over and above the wages. These usually include; housing and transport allowances, medical cover, end of service benefits, over-time wages, and wages for annual and public holidays. Food allowance and other related allowances can augment the basic wage by between 20 and 40 percent with the variations being pegged on the specific company standards and the contract standards. Awareness of these extra parts is important for the employer as well as the employee in order to evaluate the actual worth of compensation packages in the Saudi employment market.
