Syrian and Egyptian expats at the bottom of the food chain

According to this, highest paid expats in the UAE are (in order):
Americans, Brits, SAfricans and Canadians

In the Arabic version of this story though, the report claims that the least paid are expatriates from: India, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt and Philippines

As an Arab, I am not surprised to see Syrians and Egyptians amongst the lowest paid in the UAE.

To start with Syrians, and with the exception of college educated and high skilled professions; like doctors and engineers, most younger Syrians flock to the GCC to score 5 years GCC residency. According to Syrian laws, a 5 year work residency in the GCC qualifies military drafts-to-be to be exempted from a the compulsory service in the Syrian Army. That, plus a $US 10,000/- government fee.

Sadly, most employers here know this and use it to force Syrian job seekers much lower wages than market standards. You'd be shocked to know how much some of these kids are willing to accept just to stamp a GCC visa and dodge the 2 year gig in the Syrian army.

As for Egyptians; I would say 2 main factors. 1) In the past few years, and with the help of a much talked about and an un-official restriction on bringing in more low-paid workers from the SubCon and Asia to the UAE. As a result, many construction companies shifted to the Egyptian market for cheap, low waged and relatively better skilled construction workers.

Many of them found their way here and are paid about $300 per month on average .

The other factor I would say is mainly functional. Egypt is known to host more talented and better trained in hospitality and food business skills. In Egypt, you have some of the best tourism/hospitality colleges. And the training they get in Egypt's tourist spots, make Egyptians even more attractive to hotels and restaurant operators here in the GCC.

However, and in case you didn’t know, restaurant workers (runners, waiters ..etc) and non-management hotel staff (front desk, waiters, housekeeping) are some of the most poorly paid jobs in the UAE. KFC, Pizza Hut ... etc). Don’t believe me, ask any Arab who works there.

Nontheless, maybe I should ask some of the Syrians and Egyptians I know/work with to take the survey in 2010; who knows, it might alter the scales a bit…