Many Middle East residents feel they have not been adequately compensated for rises in the cost of living, according to a survey.

'(Residents of) all countries did agree on one point - - salaries have not been able to match the rising cost of living,' Bayt.com, a Dubai-based recruitment Web site, said in the survey.

The survey of close to 9,000 participants from the Middle East and North Africa found that those in Syria, Lebanon and the UAE were the least satisfied with salary increases.

'At an overall level, 58 percent felt this way, with Syria (67 percent), Lebanon (64 percent) and UAE (62 percent) relatively higher,' the survey added.

Bayt.com said in another report that the cost of living had risen 28 percent in the UAE in the past year, and that employees in the country believed they deserved a 33 percent raise.

In post-war Lebanon, residents were pessimistic about the future, with 38 percent believing their country's economic situation would decline.

Private sector wage growth in the six Gulf Arab states accelerated to an average of 7.9 percent in the year to September 2006, with banking and construction sector employees benefiting the most, another survey showed last year.

Soaring costs of living, a tight labour market and rapid economic growth in India, home to many of the Gulf's expatriate workers, were helping drive wage inflation, said the survey conducted by Dubai-based GulfTalent.com. -Reuters