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Wage Comparison (USD)
Comparison of monthly earnings between regular Yemeni army personnel and irregular forces.
Primary Sources
Financial struggles burden Yemen's army as soldiers wait for wages ...
NOTE:TO BE PUBLISHED SATURDAYMarib, Yemen – Inside a military facility on the outskirts of this western Yemeni city, soldier Suleiman al-Hajj sits beside two of his comrades in a sparse room where they spend most of their on-duty hours.Worry is etched on his face as he makes another call and sends a flurry of messages in search of a loan as another salary payment from the army is delayed.It is a recurring issue in the armed forces of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, in which the hardships of the battlefield merge into everyday life with serious implications for the military’s efficiency.How much does a Yemeni soldier earn?Army personnel earn 60,000 to 180,000 Yemeni riyals per month, roughly $38 to $116.One military source who requested anonymity told Al Jazeera that the size of the regular Yemeni army ranges from 180,000 to 220,000 personnel but only about 30 to 40 percent serve on the front lines. The rest are in support roles or on guard duty.The army receives a budget of roughly 36 billion riyals each month, about $23.2m, with about 17 billion riyals allocated to the Fourth Military Region based in Aden, the city back under government control after about six years in southern separatist hands.Are salaries paid regularly?One officer told Al Jazeera that his soldiers last received their salaries in December although the government had promised that any arrears would be paid by Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday due to fall in late May and a time of gift giving and feasts.“We are soldiers of the state, and we do not know of any party responsible for securing our salaries other than the government, represented by the Ministry of Defence and the presidency of the General Staff,” he said. Despite the hardships, the soldiers remain at their posts, fulfilling their duties, the officer added.The government has a deep need for its soldiers. It has been fighting the Houthi rebels since 2014. They have taken over Sanaa, the capital, forcing the government to move to Aden.The war has caused money troubles for both sides. They have targeted each other’s main sources of revenue, leaving both strapped for cash and struggling to pay government salaries and fund basic services in areas under their control.The Yemeni army has been engaged in a multi-front campaign during the war [Muhammed El-Wafi – Anadolu Agency]What about Yemen’s nonregular formations?There are a range of military formations in government-controlled areas that operate outside the umbrella of...
Yemen's Economy Pays Heavy Price of Houthi War
Yemeni government data has revealed the scale of the unprecedented economic and humanitarian deterioration the country has suffered because of a war that has dragged on for more than a decade, saying the conflict ignited by the Houthis caused cumulative losses to the national economy estimated at about $126 billion by 2021. The figures come as poverty and unemployment widen and prospects for economic recovery decline at an alarming pace. Data issued by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation showed that Yemen’s economy continued to contract under the weight of the war and its impact across productive and service sectors, amid stalled oil exports, weaker trade activity and growing pressure on the local currency. This has directly affected living standards and people’s ability to secure their basic needs. According to the report on economic, development and humanitarian indicators in Yemen for 2024 and 2025, real gross domestic product shrank by 43% between 2015 and 2024. It had contracted by about 50% between 2011 and 2021, reflecting, according to the report’s authors, the depth of the economic crisis and the continuing cumulative impact on all parts of the national economy. The war has caused a decline in the activity of Yemeni ports and raised insurance fees, government media said. Yemeni data shows that per capita GDP fell to just $471 in 2024, compared with $1,430 in 2014, a sharp decline that reveals the scale of the collapse in purchasing power and individual income levels during the war years. The report attributes part of this decline to the repercussions of the war and Houthi attacks on oil export ports, which halted oil exports, the country’s main source of foreign currency. This has worsened public finance imbalances and weakened the government’s ability to fund basic services and development spending. Unemployment exceeds average rates In the labor market, Yemeni government data painted a bleak picture of employment conditions. Youth unemployment reached 32.4%, exceeding the global average of 13.6% and the Arab average of 25.9%, in a clear sign of the widening gap between education outcomes and labor market needs, as well as the weakened economy’s limited ability to generate new jobs. The report said the continued decline in education, health and living standards has deepened the crisis, with human capital eroding and economic and social fragility expanding, especially among young people, who have become the most affect...
Killing of development leader exposes insecurity in government ...
The kidnapping and killing of Wesam Qaid, a prominent British-Yemeni development practitioner and acting executive director of Yemen's Social Fund for Development (SFD), is not only a tragic loss for Yemen's development sector. It also underscores a persistent and unresolved challenge facing Yemen's internationally recognized government: its inability to establish credible security in ...
Yemen Wages & Salaries News Monitoring
Yemen's Hodeidah braces for attacks amid US-Israel-Iran standoff With its large population and strategic coastal location, fears are growing that Hodeidah could become a direct target of any military response. [Getty] With renewed tensions between the US and Iran following the breakdown of negotiations in Islamabad on …
