Fewer UAE professionals are able to successfully negotiate their salaries over the past 12 months amid an increasing influx of international jobseekers moving to the UAE and raising competition in the local market, a new study shows.

In 2025, 49 per cent of employees in the UAE tried to negotiate their pay and 15 per cent were successful, according to Michael Page’s 2026 Salary Guide.

This is a significant drop from 2024, when 64 per cent engaged in salary negotiations and 24 per cent were successful.

“The decline suggests a growing sense of caution among employees,” the report said. “In this evolving employment landscape, clarity around compensation is more important than ever.”

For employers, it helps competitive and fair offers that attract top talent. For professionals, it offers a benchmark to make informed career decisions and negotiate effectively, it said.

The UAE‘s economic growth is creating more opportunities for people and businesses. The economy is projected to outperform the global average this year as it is expected to remain resilient to uncertainty in the global economy, the International Monetary Fund said earlier this month.

The IMF projects the UAE’s gross domestic product to expand at a 4.8 per cent pace this year − driven by strong non-hydrocarbon growth and Opec production increases before expanding at a further 5 per cent rate in 2026.

This projection is slightly below the UAE Central Bank’s forecast for this year of 4.9 per cent.

AI roles in demand

Michael Page’s UAE 2026 Salary Guide points to demand for roles in sectors such as data and analytics. With AI adoption accelerating, organisations are moving from experimentation to proper use of the technology.

That shift is creating more demand for roles including AI engineers, AI product managers and AI-focused data engineers, those who do not simply build models, but integrate AI into business workflows.

“While regional talent availability has grown, advanced AI skill sets remain scarce, making capability building and strategic hiring more critical than ever,” the guide said. “In the UAE, demand for data and AI professionals is intensifying”, with roles in generative AI, machine learning and data engineering growing rapidly.

“Organisations are investing in upskilling initiatives and strategic hiring to meet the region’s AI adoption goals, while seeking professionals who can translate models into business impact,” it added.

Change in mindset

Michael Page’s guide also points to a change in employees’ mindset.

While 52 per cent are satisfied with their current pay, almost two-thirds are open to changing jobs in 2026.

“For most of them, salary is the top driver, but work-life balance and career growth are becoming just as important,” said Jon Ede, managing director for the Middle East at Michael Page. “Employers, in turn, are telling us they’re finding it harder to both recruit and retain.”

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index in September indicated that non-oil private sector companies in the UAE raised the employment levels at the fastest rate since May, to account for increased business activity.

In Dubai, rising new businesses led to a robust expansion in output and increasing employment across the emirate’s non-oil private sector, the report said.

The rate of job creation was the quickest in a year, with firms showing “much stronger optimism” towards future activity in Dubai, S&P Global said.

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UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions