A very interesting survey/press release by HSBC has been picked up by Business Week and others concerning which countries have the wealthiest expat workers. Russia is in the lead followed by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. This is extremely surprising to me. I have personal experience with the expat community of Bahrain and I would hardly call it wealthy. I’m also confused as to what is defined as an “expat”. Do they count foreign labor from Asia that is generally poorly paid? The Business Week article I linked to notes that expat is not defined. That’s a huge oversight.
Certainly, there are many well to do expats living in the Gulf region. The Gulf states have a long history of importing almost their entire private sector, and many of the executives who live there are paid well. Surely Kuwait and Qatar and even the UAE would have higher salaries for western expats. Perhaps poorer expats from Asia bring the average down? I’m not sure.
So all in all, I’m not sure where this data comes from as it differs markedly from my own experience abroad in some of those countries. I have no familiarity with Russia, but I would imagine there are many high paying opportunities for westerners there as that country has considerable wealth. Generally the highest paid expats work in the mining and oil exploration industries.
I think there is certainly a need for these types of surveys. HSBC makes a lot of money offering expats banking and investing services. It behooves them to know where the wealthy expats are living. I’ve made use of HSBC while I lived in Bahrain and Dubai as I felt is a bank that is reputable, has decent service and most importantly is solvent.
Surveys like this will also aid an expat in determining where to go for the money. The Gulf will always be a place with opportunities. So too, perhaps is Russia. But right now this survey is inadequate as it does not define what an expat is, and I believe its information is inaccurate. Hopefully in the future a better quality survey will be produced giving expats a clearer idea as to where to go to make money and build their careers. It will be a tremendous service to the expat community and to business worldwide.
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