Most of us spend much of our time working for a salary. The average person will spend close to 40 years earning a salary of some sort. Do we spend enough time and effort making sure what we get paid is adequate? People who are in organized labour such as unions, are often made aware of the impact of inflation on their purchasing power, and the value of their benefits, over time. When you work in a profession or trade for a long period of time most people get a sense of what the market pays. This may be from listening to people complain about being under paid or boasting about the new job they just landed. We also get a sense of what the market pays from job adverts in newspapers or online. Increasingly, especially amongst the younger generation, people openly compare payslips while having lunch in the company canteen. These snippets of salary information lead us to feel either adequately paid or more likely under paid. Most of us tend to over estimate our value and as a result feel we do not earn enough.

How much is enough? A little bit more? It is much more difficult to get a sense of how our salary compares when we move to an unfamiliar environment. When you move to a new country, city or state it becomes much more difficult to compare your current salary to what you have been offered because the cost of living will also be different and that affects your purchasing power. If you are offered a salary that is 10% higher, it looks really attractive, but is it really? What if your cost of living was 20% higher? What if you have to pay for items you don’t have to pay for now? What if you have to pay more tax? Of course the opposite could also be true. If you are offered a salary that is 10% lower, it looks really unattractive, but is it really? What if your cost of living was 20% lower? What if you have to pay for less items than you pay for now? What if you have also paid less tax? All these factors make comparing salaries when relocating challenging. John Hunt, a Financial Manager in Houston, recently had a salary offer from a large multinational headquartered in Dubai.

He was pretty happy with the salary offer of $120,000, tax free, as this was equal to his gross salary in Houston. His net (after tax) salary was $92,000 in Houston. In addition he was offered a housing allowance, which with the low rentals in Dubai would be more than adequate. That would mean he could rent out his home in Houston to cover his mortgage. He would also receive medical insurance and an annual return air ticket to Houston and 5 weeks annual leave each year. Although he was excited about the offer of $120,000 tax free, he was not sure how far that would go in Dubai compared to his net salary of $92,000 in Houston and decided to use the SPPP calculator to see how his offer compared to his current purchasing power. / so he logged in using his username and password. He clicked on the “Purchase Credits” menu and within 10 minutes had a credit loaded using PayPal and was ready to run his report. From the “Calculators” menu he choose the Salary Purchasing Power Parity Calculator (SPPP): The SPPP report calculates how much you need to earn in another location to compensate for a higher cost of living, hardship, and the exchange rate, in order to have the same relative spending power and as a result have a similar standard of living as you have in your current location.

John was prompted for a reference for his report to help him identify his reports for future reference. He then selected Houston as the location that he was being relocated from and Dubai as the location that he was relocating to.Miniature Beagle Puppies For Sale In Tn Next John selected the basket costs that will he will pay for from his salary and selected Household and Healthcare as provided for by his employer. Best Catwoman JokesJohn read that basket costs that are provided such as in his case, household and healthcare costs, are not included in the cost of living calculation.Faux Silk Drapes 95 John then selected US Dollars as the currency and entered his net salary of 92,000 in Houston so that he could compare this to the net salary offer in Dubai for a more accurate comparison.

Having checked all his selections in the calculator John clicked on “Run Report”. He saved a PDF version and had a look at what the report contained. This is what he learned: *For the basket he selected (excluding Housing and Healthcare) Dubai is 8.78% more expensive than Houston *The relative hardship (quality of living) between Houston and Dubai is 10% *Applying the cost of living difference based on what will be paid from salary, together with the hardship difference, the Xpatulator calculation is as follows: Home/Current location salary          $ 92,000.00 + Cost of living difference (8.78%)  $   8,077.60 + Hardship Difference (10%)           $   9,200.00 This means, based on all the above factors, that John would require a net salary of $109,277.60 in Dubai to have the same standard of living as currently enjoyed in Houston on a net salary of $92,000. This salary compensates for the overall cost of living difference of 8.78% and the hardship difference of 10%.

Given the offer of $120,000, John calculated that he would have an increased purchasing power of approximately 9.8% and accepted the job, confident that he would be better off financially, in addition to the better career prospects the new job was likely to bring. Let Others Know:Like this:I’ve been working as a sales executive for a small business shop in Dubai in the last 11 months. My current salary is more than what was initially offered to me which made me accept this job with a limited contract. After finding out the common salary bracket of sales employees inside the mall, I realized that I was lucky enough to have this pay. Related Article: Difference Between Limited and Unlimited Contract in UAE Labor Dubai money – easy come, easy go With the cost of living in Dubai rising, it was a big question for me if a Pinoy can save in the UAE. I had to ask how much is the monthly expense of an average Pinoy here? By the way, I categorize myself as “Average” for the sole basis that my salary bracket is not that low nor that big.

I would supposedly categorize myself lower since my salary expectations were not met, but I’m still new here so I can’t demand for much. 1200 AED – Partition Rent 150 AED – DEWA Contribution (Electricity and Water) 200 AED – Metro Transportation 900 AED – Food (at 30 AED per day) xxx AED – Miscellaneous (Gym, Whey Protein, Toilettries) xxx AED – Money to Send to Philippines xxx AED – Monthly Savings Tallying my expenses, it somehow proves that Dubai is an expensive city to live for Pinoys. But a lot of people have made it. It’s a matter of spending money wisely. I can find a bunk bed rental (commonly known as a bedspace) where I will only pay around 600 AED a month and would save me more money. However, I don’t want to compromise privacy so that leaves food as my variable when equating my expenses with my salary. Given that I have miscellaneous expenses like buying Whey Protein, or additional taxi transport, it just goes to show that my finances are screwed.

With the rough draft above of the expenses one can incur in Dubai, it makes me wonder if Filipinos can save in the UAE. Well the answer is YES, but… Yes, but… you will have to sacrifice the first few years of employment to establish yourself in your chosen field. Gain experience and seek employment with better pay. By then, you can charge a better rate. You can also save on expenses by stocking food & preparing your own lunch instead of paying ready-made meals. Using a car-lift service when there’s no more bus or metro available. Not going out often is also another option. That’s why on my spare time, I do my best to work on other projects that help me earn an extra buck or two. These earnings keep me sane so I can still cover my other expenditures. If I did not have other modes of income, I know I wouldn’t have the bit of comfort I’m getting. I would have to sacrifice my partition space for something else. I noticed there’s a range of jobs in Dubai for Pinoys and if you’re a professional (nurse, doctor, engineer) who works in big companies, most likely you’ll have a better salary.

Otherwise, if you work in Sales or the Food & Beverage industry, chances are you will start with just a basic salary of, let’s say, 2000 AED (some even, lower). I am thankful for having a slightly better pay compared to other Pinoys in the UAE. I can only imagine those who’ve started with lower salaries and are persevering to stay in their contract for 2 years until another opportunity comes along. There are Filipinos who say that it’s only in the beginning and you only need to wait and have more “tiyaga” before you can demand for something better. The great thing about Filipinos is our close-knit culture where we help fellow kabayans in dire need. Most have families and friends to lean on to ask for temporary help when the need arises. As for me, I am holding to the notion that I’ll only gain more time and more experience in Dubai as a Pinoy OFW before I can set a better bargain for myself, career-wise. Follow us on Twitter to get job updates and news! Get FREE Dubai Updates by entering your email address:Don't forget to check your email to activate your subscription!