By Stephen Eisenhammer, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The average salary of workers in Brazil’s oil and gas industry rose 27.6 percent to R$215,000 (US$106,000) per year, between October 2010 and October 2011, a recent report by the recruitment agency Hays affirmed.
The report placed Brazil and Australia ahead of 51 other countries which formed part of the study, saying the wages were on a par with those in the United States.
“Brazil is at the crest of a wave. I believe that this level will rise or remain stable, at the least, in the coming years,” Matt Underhill who was responsible for the research.
He explained that companies were making every effort to attract top talent because of the technical challenges drilling in the off-shore pre-salt oil reservoirs, which frequently lie over 3,000 meters below the sea bed, present.
The shortage of skilled labor remains a problem for companies attempting to expand their operations in Brazil and top salaries have to be offered to tempt people to the country.
The report also showed that the number of Brazilians working in the oil and gas industry abroad fell twenty percent in 2010 and eleven percent in 2011 as countrymen return to take part in Brazil’s oil boom.
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