Saudi Gazette report

DAMMAM — The level of education is a key factor in determining the pay scale of Saudi employees, according to data released by the General Authority of Statistics.

The authority said the average salary earned by women with bachelor's degrees in 2016 was almost double the salary of females with high school diplomas.

The statistics on the salary level of Saudi employees for 2016 showed that there was a gap of 11.2 percent in the average salary of male and female employees.

The data also showed the ability to read and write increased the salary of male employees by 23.4 percent. The average monthly salary of a literate male was SR5,593, while an illiterate male earned only SR4,357. However, the salary of a literate female was SR3,885, which was only 0.8 percent higher than that of an illiterate female, who received a salary of SR3,853.

The increase in salary for male and female employees with primary education was almost equal at 10.5 percent. The salary of middle school graduates rose by 26.4 percent to SR7,813 for males and by 7.4 percent to SR4,615 for females.

The gender gap in the level of salary went down for high school graduates. Male employees with high school certificates earned a salary of SR9,085, an increase of 16.3 percent over middle school graduates, while their female counterparts earned SR5,296 a month, which is an increase of 14.7 percent on the salaries of those with middle school education.

Women with university degrees earned an average salary of SR10,550, which is 99.2 percent more than the salary of high school graduates. At the same time, men with bachelor's degrees earned SR13,774 a month, which is 51.6 percent higher than the average salary of male high school graduates.

Females with post-graduate diplomas or master's degrees, received an average of SR13,210 a month, which is 45.1 percent above the salaries of university graduates. The average salary of male post-graduates was up by 25.2 percent and reached SR19,985.

Female PhD holders received an average salary of SR21,677, which was 64.1 percent above the salary of post-graduates, while their male counterparts received SR28,534, up 42.8 percent.