Lanka among poor paying countries

Wednesday, 29 May 2013 02:08 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka is among the countries with exceptionally poor pay in the world, according to the annual International Geographic Salary Differentials report from Mercer.

Five countries from 75 countries covered in a study have exceptionally poor pay rankings and sit at the bottom of the table.

They are mostly poorer countries with unstable political regimes; Algeria, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, expatforum.com reported.

The research comes at a time when more workers are getting the chance to work overseas. Separate research from the firm shows that China, the United States, Brazil, the UK and Australia are the most popular destinations for employers sending workers overseas.

According to Mercer, the main reason for sending someone overseas is to provide specific skills not available locally. Other reasons cited for foreign assignments included career development, ensuring knowledge transfer and fulfilling a specific project. However, some countries are not popular with would be expats, most notably China, where people are worried about language difficulties, health care and education.

There have been major changes in salaries in countries around the world at all career levels, especially for management, according to a new report. Several Latin American countries have risen up the net pay rankings while Eastern Europe has seen the sharpest drops, according to the annual International Geographic Salary Differentials report from Mercer.

Switzerland remains the highest paying country with regard to net salary for four of the six career levels covered by the report.

It fell to third place for upper middle management and second place for lower middle management. The countries that saw the sharpest drops in overall net pay rankings are mostly in Europe with Serbia dropping an average of 14 places across all six career levels. Indonesia, Lithuania, Spain, Algeria and Estonia also saw significant falls.