I have worked in recruitment in Qatar for the last 3 years and yes western expats tend to get paid more, however, as we all know they will have to return to the country of origin at some point and the cost of living tends to be a lot higher than say India, Sri Lanka or the philippines to name a few. In addition the cost of their education will have been huge too, compared to some less developed countries in the world - this also has to be paid off. Also, there are very high tax brackets in most western countries and for a lot of expats (canadians and australians) they are still paying some form of tax back home, whereas as my Filipino colleague pointed out the other day, they are supposed to pay tax bck in the philippines but no one does and it is never chased up. I wish that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs could be so forgetful!
oh and to the person who said that they were about to recruit a baker for some senior position from the uk - this is doubtful, any HR dept worth their salt would take references from their current and previous employer (to a business address) and you HAVE to have an education certificate in order to get a Visa for senior roles - the immigration dept will not procees without one. Now, I have seen enough fake certificates from India to last me a lifetime, but that is another story
I have worked in recruitment in Qatar for the last 3 years and yes western expats tend to get paid more, however, as we all know they will have to return to the country of origin at some point and the cost of living tends to be a lot higher than say India, Sri Lanka or the philippines to name a few. In addition the cost of their education will have been huge too, compared to some less developed countries in the world - this also has to be paid off. Also, there are very high tax brackets in most western countries and for a lot of expats (canadians and australians) they are still paying some form of tax back home, whereas as my Filipino colleague pointed out the other day, they are supposed to pay tax bck in the philippines but no one does and it is never chased up. I wish that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs could be so forgetful!
oh and to the person who said that they were about to recruit a baker for some senior position from the uk - this is doubtful, any HR dept worth their salt would take references from their current and previous employer (to a business address) and you HAVE to have an education certificate in order to get a Visa for senior roles - the immigration dept will not procees without one. Now, I have seen enough fake certificates from India to last me a lifetime, but that is another story