UAE IT staff have best GCC pay

Here's cause for celebration for employees in the UAE's infotech sector: you are the best paid in the region, and among the top 20 in the world.

According to a new report, the UAE holds the 17th position in paying top dollar to IT professionals across the world, and this is the highest in the GCC region.

The report, published by MyHiringClub.com, a recruitment tendering platform, shows that, regionally, the UAE is followed by Bahrain at No. 18th on the global list, followed by Kuwait at 19th, Qatar at 20th and Saudi Arabia at 21st.

On an average, the report shows that IT professionals in the UAE take home a salary of about Dh300,000 per annum ($81,100), which works out to a little under Dh25,000 per month.

Figures published by Charterhouse Partnership, a boutique recruitment firm in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, show that Head of IT and CIO/IT Director with an average salary of Dh50,000 per month are the highest paid roles within the sector. This is followed by solutions architect, programme manager and enterprise architect with a salary of Dh45,000 per month.

In terms of the best IT salaries paying countries, Switzerland topped the list with an average annual remuneration of $167,890. The same job if taken in Belgium, second on the list, would pay $142,570, the survey said.

Denmark stood third in the best paid list with salary in the IT sector averaging at $132,430. The UK and the US were ranked fourth and fifth on this list with average packages of $126,570 and $121,460 respectively.

Australia tops the list of highest paid IT professionals in Asia Pacific, followed by Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Republic of Korea.

IT managers in Bulgaria, Vietnam and the Philippines receive the lowest pay at $21,678, $28,940 and $32,560 a year, respectively.

The other countries on the list were Indonesia at fourth with average wages of $32,980, followed by Malaysia with earnings of $35,870, China ($37,300), Czech Republic ($41,00), and Argentina ($49,000).

Also, large pay gaps exist between junior and senior career streams in India, Indonesia, Chile, Brazil and Vietnam, the survey reveals.

The IT salary survey 2011 compared the total annual cash compensation and total remuneration information of mid-career level for IT staff in 6,117 companies in 41 countries between September 1, 2011, and October 31, 2011.

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