What is the temperature of employees in the Gulf right now?
The labour market has been shaken by the rising cost of living and employees are restless. Inflation surged to record highs across the Gulf last year, hitting 14% in Qatar, 7.6% in Oman, 6.2% in Kuwait, 6% in Saudi and 4.9% in Bahrain. Inflation hit a 19-year high of 9.3% in the UAE in 2006, the last official figure. Less than half of employees received a pay rise large enough to cover rising costs – which means that last year over half of the region’s employees effectively had a pay cut .
