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  • Average salary to start your life in Lebanon

arithma wroteSomething to consider: House prices are inflated because your peers (or people who were in your shoes) decided to leave the country, get more money, and then get back here in Lebanon to settle.
You're at a disadvantage just by staying here.
Exactly.

That said, there's an unfortunate truth that we have to realize. In capitalism, not everyone is supposed or entitled (by some unwritten law) to own a house and live a comfortable during his lifetime.

Becoming an owner of a property has throughout the ages been considered a big deal. Most people never had that and never will.

Even in the west (the American dream? it sometimes just stays a dream) it's the same situation. Maybe in socialist countries it is different (France?) but i'm not too familiar with them so I can't give my opinion.

In Lebanon, all people holding a university degree believe they are now entitled to ownership of a house and living a comfortable lives (this thinking actually somewhat works in the west because not many people get university degrees and unemployment numbers have for most of the time stayed in the single digit numbers; so degree holders were being scooped up quicker).

One other thing to realize, in Lebanon the rent prices (% of property value) are one of the lowest in the world. So if you crunch the numbers, it would be more beneficial to you to rent a house in Lebanon, while financing a house in Dubai and renting it out for a much higher % of property value (almost double that of Lebanon). But most Lebanese have too much nationalism and sense of self-entitlement to think economically.

Personal note: I worked in Dubai real estate. Before end 2008, the rental prices were 10% (yearly) of the property value. i.e. a 300,000$ house would be rented out for 30,000$ a year. The owner of course pays the service/maintenance fees but still the rent would be really high. During that time in Lebanon, the rent was 3-5% of property value.
After the end 2008 crisis, Dubai rental prices became around 6% of property value, while Lebanon hovered around 5%.
In 2013, Dubai rental prices shot up to around 7.5-8.5% (and still showing signs of increasing) while Lebanon is still hovering around 5%.

(Take advantage of the low rental prices in Lebanon to save the money you were going to use to finance your house and invest it into something that will generate even more income so that you compress the time it takes you later to buy a house and therefore pay less interest rates. In the west, smart investments are the key to accelerate starting up your life; some investments are not smart, there's alot of personal touch involved, no one is entitled to comfy life just because they are X country passport holders).
rtwo2008 wroteMaybe in socialist countries it is different (France?) but i'm not too familiar with them so I can't give my opinion.
I don't know if France is a "socialist" country... but anyway I'm more familiar with Germany, so I can give some insight...
People who make money pay lots of their salary in taxes (but frankly, it's not that different in the States). What is most off-putting in the whole thing is the inefficiency of the government, and that is something common to many countries, "socialist" or not. Many do take advantage of the social services that the state offers, but there is much off-putting paperwork to fill, and the sum is you get is not that high, and seems to be ever shrinking in relation to the costs of living and to the taxes you will have to pay.

Suffice to say that, like the American dream, there is the socialist dream...
Seeing how competitive the job market is (partly because of the regulations and taxes...), how high the taxes are, and how hard it often is to get help from the government, those who do obtain social assistance, mostly in the form of regular monthly payments, don't have much incentive left to change their situation. So you have a small population who lives off welfare because of this, and who have not much more purpose (in the system) than maintaining the system and maintaining the look of the "social state" which helps it's population. The help doesn't always get to those who are really in need. I've seen people rummage through garbage...

I don't want to totally discredit that system. It does work well in many cases. Many students benefit from it to fund their studies, it actually saves lives by taking people off the street, and it can get very cold on the streets... I just want to destroy the "perfect image" that it can have and which some people disseminate - for reasons which are beyond me.
I agree, it's definitely not well written and has FUD ingrained in it all through, but it still raises a few interesting points that one should think about.
rahmu wroteSamer, that's a very poorly written Wikipedia page. It makes claims it doesn't back up, it shows random number, it gives opinions rather than facts and it even contradicts itself on a few occasions.

Terrible article that spreads FUD and speculation more than anything else.
In the business,marketing,sales and management field they used to pay between 600 and 800$ per month,it depends on the university you were in.
In opposite to normal countries companies that raise salaries annual basis are rare here,so unless you are the son of the boss you won't reach 2000 and 3000$ before you got 10 years of experience.Only some big names like KFF raise salaries for competence.
And yes with actual raise in prices in everything,from the European chocolate you buy to the apartment passing by restaurants,you must expect:
-A minimum of 2000$ per month if you are single and alone (not living with parents)
-A minimum of 3000$ per month if you are married without children and your wife is working too.
-A minimum of 4000$ per month if you are married with children and your wife is working too.
The thing is that we have huge difference between the boss salaries and employees salaries in Lebanon.
You will find easily companies with a boss gaining 50,000 to 100,000$ per month and his employees only 500 to 1000$ max per month (500$ for non diploma people). The best solution would be to give salaries based on a minimum + a part of the company's total gain percentage.
It would be more ''normal'' to see companies with a boss at 10000$ per month and employees between 1000$ and 3000$...
vegetaleb wroteThe best solution would be to give salaries based on a minimum + a part of the company's total gain percentage.
It would be more ''normal'' to see companies with a boss at 10000$ per month and employees between 1000$ and 3000$...
In the tiny Lebanese market, you won't find many with those numbers.
3 years later
Hey guys. Its been around three years since the last post in this thread. I've been rereading it a lot recently since I've just about finished university (3rd year CCE student), and just wanted to ask you if there are any updates on the topic? Do you think this inflation has halted, or at least slowed down (real-estate inflation specifically)? Is the entrance curve still that steep in terms of salaries? Really, any information helps.

Finally, I know it's not that simple, but speaking generally, which course of action would you recommend:
a) Stay in Lebanon and work through the troubles.
b) Leave for the Gulf and come back when we have enough saved up.
c) Get our immigration papers ready and hope for the best.

Thanks again.
i would go with C if it is possible so much more benefits mainly human respect which s absent in this country
The million dollar question isn't it

Combine B and C. Go to the Gulf and stay there.

Problem solved, next!

On a serious note, in Dubai we have so many expats from various places. We have many people from the UK/Australia/New Zealand/US that prefer working and living in UAE than staying back home. So those "dreamlands" are not for everyone. Personally I'd work in the gulf if it's Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Oman is a maybe. Other than that I wouldn't go the the gulf. But here it is easier to apply and you have a much higher chance of being accepted. Also living in an Arab country that maintains your Arab heritage and the advancements similar to foreign countries is a great balance.

Applying for US/Canada/Australia/Europe residency will take alot of money and time. Do your research, and even travel to get an idea of how's the life there.

Whatever you do, do not go with option A. No one should fight for their rights; and corruption in a government is just aids.
Things got worse in 2016, even for people who have a good diploma from a known university and 10 years experience, if you loose your job because of anything (dying company for example) it will be extremely difficult to find a job, and if you do you will have to accept the sacrifice to return to a 600-800$ basic salary, this country is a catastrophe for people who don't have a dad as CEO.
I think before anything else with the new governments, they should do a law abiding companies to not take syrians in managerial/marketing/sales/engineers positions at all, and to force companies to ''share'' the gains with the employees to stop this middle ages system giving the CEO 50000 to 200000$ per month while the employee take 800$. The problem is that the majority of our politicians are CEOs themselves...
9 days later
I realize and understand the fact that Lebanon isn't heaven. Albeit I don't like the fact how negativity is all over the thread, one should work with whatever he got, be humble to learn more, get experience, then opportunities would arise.

We aren't the west, we are just trying to emulate the west, in the education system and how their countries work, lacking a lot
of resources in the process.

Take things simple, is the best approach here, actually utilizing people's ignorance is another good option for business ideas, things should work out.

Personally, I think trying to start a business or startup -if & while you can- and having enough for yourself at first is a good start better than working under someone. because that someone is just a person like anyone else who thought it through and created his own business, I'm not talking about those who were funded by their fathers.

In the current state of this country, if you can find something(tech related) that pays 2000$ a month in Lebanon, you should consider yourself god. Or that's what I think.

One thing I learned, is that marketing and hyping yourself in Lebanon benefits you better than your actual skills.

The majority in Lebanon are programmed on this behavior in perceiving value. Even if you're out of that thought matrix,
and you consider yourself "smart", you'll unconscionably be affected. Which will produce even more negativity.

It's complex.
One should take it one step at a time. (Remove unrealistic houses and cars and wives & get in the field). build it up, Then that will come naturally.

Not trying to remove the importance of a long term plan, although realistically, long term plans are made by short term plans.
Well, if you have a good amount of money that you'd like to blow and take a chance just stay here, i mean start a new company and take a shot, maybe it'll work and you'll be your son's ( Dad is a CEO ) and the guy who gets a high salary ( for this you need good amount of money and a brilliant idea and a loooooot of luck)
If you are willing to work in Gulf, just go to an arabic country where they just blow up money, and then come back with a brilliant idea and a lot of money and hope for the luck to come.
And last but not least, and which is what i will do as soon as i finish my diploma, is start doing your emigration papers. Well for me this is the best option, because a lot of factors which, i bet we all know about, some of them are the lack of human respect and the ignorance of all the gov and the companies out there. Like what the heck is this internet, and come on guys look at the review of all the internet companies out there and, i'm just speechless. So this is the small example of ignorance, and you can't find anything like that outside lebanon, without forgetting about the amount of respect you get with good diplomas, and this respect will increase with the good work you do. And without forgetting that after you get the new countrie's passport, you have to pay tax but you have cool services and good future for your children.

This is my opinion :)
I doubt you will find a job easily in Europe unless in mechanical or electrical engineering, for the ''classic'' jobs like marketing and management you need tons and tons of patience and hundreds of interviews