Average monthly wages in Qatar have gone up some 6 percent in the last 12 months, new figures from the Qatar Statistics Authority show.
This means that, despite the rising cost of living, average salaries are more than keeping pace with inflation, which rose by 3.6 percent from March 2012 to March 2013.
The annual Labour Force Sample Survey, which was released this week, shows that the average monthly wage in the first quarter (January to March) this year was QR9,177 ($2,521), compared to QR8,654 ($2,376) last year.
Women trail
The survey also breaks the salaries down by gender, with men earning an average of QR 9,802 ($2,693) a month, significantly more than women, who made QR7,597 ($2,087).
However, the statistics don’t show how salaries are distributed by nationality and profession, meaning that it’s impossible to tell how the 2011 60 percent pay rise for Qatari government workers has affected the overall wage average.
The figures also show that Qatar’s population hit another high at the end of March, topping 1.94 million, up from 1.76 million in January 2012.
Women continue to be the minority here, accounting for only 8.6 percent of the working population in Qatar – 170,520 employees, compared to 1.29 million men.
The statistics also show that there are 1.68 million people aged 15 years and above in Qatar.
Employment
Unemployment amongst both the Qatari and expat population is fairly low. Out of the total working-age Qatari male population – 84,629 – more than half, 56,817, are employed, with a further 15,000 men still pursuing education full-time, and almost 10,000 retired.
However, only around a third of working-age Qatari women, 27,587 out of a total of 87,337, are employed full-time. Some 22,522 are students, and 26,664 Qatari women describe themselves as housewives.
Among the expats, some 1.26 million males are of working-age, compared to 256,287 expat women.
The survey states that only 903 expat men and 2,247 expat women are currently seeking employment. This incredibly small figure is explained by the kafala system, which ties an employee to a single employer, unless they are given an NOC (no-objection certificate) to seek employment elsewhere in Qatar.
The annual Labour Force Survey is carried out via a questionnaire sent to a wide-ranging sample of households and labour camps across Qatar. More information about how the information is gathered and calculated is available here.
And peruse the survey below:
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Credit: Photo by Omar Chatriwala
