Inflation blues

It’s high summer and the living is not easy. Temperatures are jumping and inflation’s running high. Prices rising and the bank balance is not a pretty picture, so much that it’s beginning to make some people cry.

Well I’m not crying yet, because I’ve lived all my life with the maxim that "what goes up must come down" and "in the end everything’s going to be all right".

However, I’ve spent hours last week talking to people on how the steep cost of living is affecting their standard of living and that’s not a pretty picture either.

Around five years ago, when I returned to Dubai after a hiatus of 25 years, I was amazed to note that although salaries had not risen too much as compared to the 1980s most people were content with what they had and most lived happily.

Housing was cheap, food was cheap and schooling and transportation were affordable.

In the interim something went awry with the lower middle and middle level employees complaining about the lack of savings and some even complaining about being neck deep in debt.

That scenario it seems has now changed for the worse. In 2003, the average wage earner was happy with a salary of Dh10,000. In 2008, even those who are earning salaries of Dh25,000 are finding it very difficult to make ends meet.

So what’s going on? How long can employers continue to hike salaries to ensure that their employees are happy to stay in their jobs and not seek employment elsewhere or worse go back home? The last option it seems is being mulled more and more by upper level managers who feel that no matter how long or how hard they work the cost of everything seems to be rapidly rising. Rents, food, transportation, parking, utilities, schooling and other multifarious charges from which there is no respite. And savings… what savings?

This week we’ve also had people complaining about the rapid decline in services, more and more because the rising payroll has forced many organisations to cut staffing. And because it’s so hot, more and more people are losing their tempers on the road causing fatal accidents. That makes us all cry.

Well, like I said, what goes up must come down and in the end everything will be all right. The world will turn and we’ll all live another day, adapt and survive.

Nirmala Janssen
editor@alnisrmedia.com

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