Latest UBS survey on global prices and earnings

UBS has just released is Prices and Earnings report for 2009 and the results are a must read for any expatriate who will soon be relocating to the Asia-Pacific region. This comprehensive report, which is done every three years, is based upon a survey of prices for 122 goods and services plus apartment rentals, income, income taxes, working hours and vacation days for 14 different occupations in 73 major cities across the globe (This year, Asia-Pacific cities covered by the survey included Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Manila, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Sydney, Auckland, Mumbai and Delhi.) Hence, the results give a good indication of purchasing power and standards of living for most major cities around the world.

Some of the findings (which will not surprise long-time residents or travelers to the Asia Pacific region) included the following:

• Clothing turned out to be cheapest in Kuala Lumpur and Manila with a complete women’s outfit (a two-piece suit, skirt, jacket, pantyhose and a pair of shoes) costing US$120 on average while a complete men’s outfit (suit, shirt, jacket/blazer, jeans, socks and pair of socks) costing US$205 on average. On the other hand, Tokyo topped out the entire list with a female outfit costing US$1,310 and a male one costing US$1,440.
• Tokyo also has the highest food prices among the 73 cities while Mumbai had the lowest. In fact, you can buy the UBS basket of food for close to US$150 in Mumbai and this same basket of food will cost you five times that much in Tokyo.
• Wages naturally, turned out to be lowest in Mumbai at US$1.30 per hour gross and the highest wages (at least for the Asia-Pacifc region) were in Tokyo at US$19.40 per hour gross.
• Taxes and social security contributions on the other hand were the lowest for the Asia-Pacific region in Bangkok at 5% and the highest in Sydney, Shanghai and Seoul at 23%, 22% and 21% respectively.
• In addition, workers in Asia also tended to have the most working hours for all regions surveyed; however, the results also varied dramatically within the region. It may or may not come as a surprise to you that workers worked the most in Hong Kong (2,295 hours) and Seoul (2,312 hours) and considerably less in Tokyo (1,997 hours), Shanghai (1,946 hours) and Sydney (1,747 hours).

In addition to the comprehensive report outlining the survey results which is available on the UBS website, Yahoo Finance has reprinted an excellent article from Forbes Magazine that focuses on the salary aspect of the survey and Forbes.com has also incorporated the top 20 cities for salaries into a slideshow.