Dubai, 12th November 2012: Aon Hewitt, the global human resources business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), today announced the results of its annual Middle East Salary Increase Survey 2012. The report, based on inputs from a robust comparator group of over 500 organizations from 26 sectors in the Middle East, suggests that there will be an average salary increase of 6.08% in 2013.

Aon Hewitt has been conducting the survey on an annual basis across the globe for 36 years and launched it in the Middle East for the first time in 2009. The survey is conducted in 9 countries in the region, including: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Among the participating organizations, Egypt-based organizations have indicated the highest salary increase projection for 2013 at 9.5%. After being impacted by over 18 months of political turmoil, Egypt-based organizations in fact gave lower than previously projected raises during 2012 (having projected 10.4% in 2011 and then actually giving 8.4%) albeit remaining higher than those of Europe or the rest of the Middle East.  

In the GCC, an average salary increase of 5.4% was projected for 2013, the same as the projection made in 2011 for 2012, indicating that organizations continue to show confidence in the economic stability of the region. The report highlighted differences between the GCC countries, with Bahrain-based organizations giving the lowest salary increase projection for in 2013 (4.4%), and Kuwait-based organizations forecasting the highest at 6.2%.

Martin McGuigan, Head of Reward Consulting, Aon Hewitt Middle East said: “All macro-indicators have shown that the economic scenario continues to move in a positive direction with corporates continuing to show confidence in the 2013 economic outlook. At large, there are no further reductions in the salary increase projections for the next year which is good news for employees. We have also observed that organizations have increasingly been linking salary rewards to performance, which is a healthy trend and indicates the increasing maturity level of the market.”

The report also highlights that fewer organizations in the Middle East are thinking about salary freezes. Only 1.3% of organizations in UAE have projected a salary freeze in 2013 compared to 4.1% in 2012. The major exception to this trend is Qatar where at least 8% of organizations have projected a salary freeze in 2013 against 2.4% which froze salaries during 2012. This may be attributed to the high salary increase given to Qatari National employees in 2011, with organizations now trying to induce market competitiveness to normalize the impact. The salary increase projection for Qatar for 2013 is also stable at 5.6%, equal to the actual salary increase this year.

The survey is part of Aon Hewitt’s suite of evidence-based, research-led studies including Qudurat, Best Employers Middle East (BEME), Total Compensation Measurement (TCM™) and People Risk Index (PRI®).

Country variations

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Notes to editors

About Middle East Salary Increase Survey

The annual Middle East Salary Increase Survey (ME-SIS) is conducted by Aon Hewitt based on inputs from over 500 organizations from 26 sectors in the Middle East. First launched in 2009, the survey is conducted in 9 countries in the region, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. On a global level, Aon Hewitt has been conducting the survey on an annual basis across the globe for 36 years.

About Aon Hewitt

Aon Hewitt is the global leader in human resource solutions.  The company partners with organisations to solve their most complex benefits, talent and related financial challenges, and improve business performance.  Aon Hewitt designs, implements, communicates and administers a wide range of human capital, retirement, investment management, health care, compensation and talent management strategies.  With more than 29,000 professionals in 90 countries, Aon Hewitt makes the world a better place to work for clients and their employees.  For more information on Aon Hewitt, please visit www.aonhewitt.com.

About Aon

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions andoutsourcing services. Through its more than 61,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovativeand effective risk and people solutions and through industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world’s best broker, best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources. Visit www.aon.com for more information on Aon and www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon’s global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.