Wage bill of Saudi companies to rise by $34 bln in 2030: survey

Salaries for highly skilled workers in Saudi Arabia are likely to rise by 17 percent, as businesses will need to add an estimated $33.6 billion to national payrolls by 2030, according to Korn Ferry's latest "The Salary Surge" report.

While overall wage increases are just keeping pace with inflation  in the UAE, salaries for in-demand workers could add as much as $5.9 billion to the total national payroll by 2030, a 9 percent increase, it added.

Overall, the salary surge could add more than $2.5 trillion to annual payrolls by 2030 in 20 leading economic markets analyzed, with $593 billion in the EMEA region alone.  This potential salary surge is the direct the result of a shortage of an estimated 85 million highly skilled workers required for companies to succeed in the new digital economy.

Saudi Arabia ranks number eight out of 20 economies in individual wage premiums for highly skilled workers, with potential individual salaries rising by $10,700 per worker by 2030, a 21 percent higher salary impact per worker than the EMEA average.

According to the study, the technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector in the Kingdom could be hardest hit, with a potential wage premium reaching $2.4 billion by 2030 followed by the manufacturing sector which faces a potential overall payroll increase of $2.1 billion.

The TMT sector also faces the greatest challenges in the UAE, with a potential wage premium of $1.124 billion, followed by financial and business services at $612 million.

Meanwhile, India is the only economy that can expect to avoid upward spiraling wages, as unlike any other country in the study it will have a highly skilled talent surplus at each milestone, the report added.