Pay gripes.

The majority of workers in the UAE are unhappy with their salary, according to new a study by Bayt.com.

The major job search web site polled more than 16,500 people across the Middle East region in June and July, 1,837 of which were in the UAE.

According to its findings just 12 per cent of UAE respondents said they were happy with their pay while a massive 73 per cent were unhappy.

Rabea Ataya, CEO at Bayt.com told 7DAYS: "The figure, across the board, may well factor in that pay rises even where relevant have been relatively muted in the past two years compared to previous years at the peak of the economic cycle, and... benefits packages seem to have accommodated more subdued economic conditions."

Jeetu Sharma, research associate at YouGov Siraj, which carries out research into areas including finance, suggested that the dissatisfaction level is high because the UAE job market is actually improving after the impact of the financial crisis, meaning people are reassessing their pay levels. "It's more of a perception thing. I think what if it was Europe [if a similar survey took place], because there are many cuts and layoffs, people would just be happy to have jobs," he said.

"If you take into consideration the benefits that people [get here], yes 73 per cent is an alarming figure," added Sharma.

Yesterday, Bayt.com launched a Salary Search Engine, allowing people to "anonymously share salary details about specific jobs for specific employers across the region".

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