Our sources, in order of trust
1. Official sources — labour ministries and government portals (Saudi HRSD and Qiwa, Jawazat/Absher, UAE MOHRE, Pakistan's BEOE) for laws, fees and formulas. 2. Reported-salary platforms — sites where workers and employers report real pay, with sample sizes and dates. 3. Live job advertisements — what employers are actually offering this month; these skew low (entry offers) and we say so. 4. Recruitment industry guides — for professional roles. 5. Ground checks — people working in the Gulf confirming what employers really pay.
The rules every figure must pass
• Two sources minimum before a range is published. • Ranges, never a single "average" — split by experience and company type where it matters. • Dated and labelled — every figure carries its source, its check date and a confidence label. • Disagreements shown, not hidden — if ads say SAR 1,800 and an aggregator says SAR 8,714, we explain both instead of printing either one as truth. • Corrections published — if a figure proves wrong, the page is updated and the change dated.
Why this matters
A worker deciding whether to pay an agent, resign a job or borrow for travel deserves numbers he can defend. An inflated average can push a family into debt for a salary that was never on offer. We would rather publish less, and have it be true.