True - In fact in many areas the true salaries have fallen dramatically in the UAE, squeezed by companies, a declining dirham and the associated inflation.
Unfortunately most people get focused on the numerical amount and its percentage increase when they get a raise. A 15% salary raise, for instance, is hardly exciting, if the currency drops 10% and inflation runs at 10% as it has over the last year. And these figure are conservative!
The goverment realised this when it gave their employees a 70% rise. It was simply putting their comparitive earning power back in line with what is was some years ago. Of course this move will in itself fuel inflation as someone has to pay the bill. Standby for large increases in any government service. I believe DEWA costs are to go up in the next month.
Anyone joining an airline in the region should simply check the trend of salaries against some tangible asset before making choice to move here.
EK salaries have undeniably fallen considerably over the past decade. And there is no magic bullet of pilot shortage that will remedy this. EK have sucessfully navigated this hurdle before and still kept lowering the real costs of the employees.
The downward trend has never been broken.