Data Sources
Where the numbers come from
Every salary range on Addify traces back to one of three published annual GCC market reports. Here is which ones, why we chose them, and what each contributes.
Last reviewed: 2026-06-22
Why three reports, not one
Any single salary survey has blind spots — in sector coverage, respondent type, or regional focus. Cross-referencing three independent sources lets us identify where the market broadly agrees (higher confidence) and where there is meaningful spread (which we reflect in the published range rather than hiding it).
We do not weight one report over another by default. Where all three align closely, the published range is narrow. Where they diverge, the range widens to represent the honest spread of market rates.
The three sources
Bayt Salary Report 2024
Bayt.com · Annual MENA salary survey
- Coverage
- 30,000+ professionals across UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and broader MENA. Covers 100+ roles across all major job functions.
- How we use it
- Primary base salary benchmarks across all experience bands, especially for mid-level professional roles.
- Known limitations
- Largest single sample source. Respondents are self-selected via the Bayt platform, which skews toward active jobseekers.
Robert Half GCC Salary Guide
Robert Half International · Annual recruiter salary guide
- Coverage
- UAE and broader Gulf focus. Stronger depth in finance, accounting, technology, and legal roles. Based on employer and candidate data collected by Robert Half recruiters.
- How we use it
- Validation of professional and specialist role ranges; particularly strong for finance and technology bands.
- Known limitations
- Reflects market rates as seen by a specialist recruiter. May run slightly higher than broader surveys for in-demand roles.
Cooper Fitch GCC Salary Survey
Cooper Fitch Executive Search · Annual executive search salary report
- Coverage
- UAE, Saudi Arabia, and wider GCC. Deep coverage of senior management, executive, and C-suite roles. Draws on Cooper Fitch's own placement and candidate data.
- How we use it
- Senior and management-level salary validation; regional context for director and above bands.
- Known limitations
- Executive search focus means stronger signal at senior levels; less coverage for entry-level roles.
What we do not use
We do not incorporate individual self-reported salary submissions at this stage. We plan to add that layer as submission volume grows to a point where it is statistically meaningful. When we do, submissions will be clearly labelled as a separate source type on each page.
We also do not scrape job postings for salary data. Posted salary ranges reflect what employers are willing to advertise, not what they are willing to pay — these are different numbers, and combining them without disclosure would be misleading.
City adjustments
The three source reports focus on the Gulf’s largest markets. For the 9 cities Addify covers, we apply a published regional adjustment factor where a city is not directly covered by all three reports. These factors are derived from regional compensation data and calibrated against the cities that are fully covered.
City-adjusted figures are still based on the same three source reports — we do not invent numbers for a city because it is on our list.