Foreign experts earn much more than locals in Atyrau

A check has been held in 18 companies in Atyrau oblast that hired foreign employees to different positions, Ak Zhaiyk writes. The check was initiated by the Kazakhstan General Prosecutor’s office and held by the oblast's prosecutors and other government authorities. The prosecutors discovered that all the companies had a huge difference in the salaries of foreign and local employees. For example, the salary of a Kazakhstan engineer in Renco-Kat over 12 months of 2012 made 2.4 million tenge ($16 thousand), while a foreign engineer earned 6 million tenge ($40 thousand) at the same position in the same period. A monthly salary of a Kazakhstan safety engineer in Sicim S.p.A. is 198 thousand tenge ($1,320), while a foreigner makes 538,400 tenge ($3,590) at the same position. Similar violations were discovered in Atyrau branch of KazMunaiService and Contracting and in the branch of Fircroft Engineering Services Limited. The check showed that companies in Atyrau oblast were ready to pay foreigners 2, 3 or even 10 times more than the local employees. There is no information on the other plans of the prosecutors in relation to such facts. The same problem was discovered in the companies in Pavlodar oblast of Kazakhstan. Salaries were much higher not only for highly-qualified foreign experts, but also for common concrete workers, carpenters and welders.