Executives working in emerging markets earn salaries and annual cash bonuses that are at par with their counterparts’ pay in the US and Europe, according to a report published on Saturday.
Senior managers in Brazil, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are offered higher salaries than their equivalents in the US, according to Hay Group, a Philadelphia-based global consulting firm.
“Many multinationals we work with have been surprised by the compensation levels they meet, particularly for senior management pay,” said Nick Boulter, head of reward services at Hay Group, according to the statement. “A major factor in this equation has been the significant influx of investment by global corporations into emerging markets.”
Growth in emerging markets, including China, Brazil, Indonesia and Poland, has outpaced developed economies such as the US, Germany and Japan over the past 10 years, forcing global companies to boost salaries in order to attract highly- skilled recruits. China’s economy expanded 7.4 per cent last quarter, compared with 2.3 per cent growth in the US.
In the US senior management salaries rose 38 per cent between 2001 and 2011, according to Hay Group data. That compares with 247 per cent growth in China and 181 per cent in Brazil over the same period. While cash pay for managers in South Africa was 40 per cent below the US in 2001, last year the gap was two per cent, according to Hay Group. Senior managers in the US averaged total cash compensation of $154,847 last year, 24 per cent less than the $204,421 average paid in the UAE, Hay Group said.
The study was based on Hay Group’s PayNet database, which covers 14 million employees in 20,000 companies.
