Gulf Business Magazine Subscribe to Gulf Business and receive 1,000 FREE Skywards Miles, and the chance to win a further 100,000 in our quarterly draw. Charles Schwab delayed by 20 mins. As an employee, in terms of salary, job stability and perks, the Gulf remains an attractive place to work in comparison with many regions of the world. But 1999 will be more precarious, with the effect of the falling oil price, the Asian economies in the doldrums, and the fits and spurts of the American stockmarket having a knock-on effect on economies and companies throughout the world.
Job security is no longer something any employee can take for granted.
Those who preside over the region's largest companies top the list of money earners in the Gulf. At the other end of the salary scale are executive secretaries, accountants and sales engineers. During 1998 salaries rose substantially for Arab nationals, especially at the top of the pay scale. Western expatriate employees, on the other hand, have roughly the same amount of money in their pay packets as they did at the end of 1997 - if inflation is taken into account. An Asian head of IT working in the UAE, for example, now commands a monthly salary 45 per cent higher than in December 1997.