Bangkokians Labor 45 Minutes For A Big Mac

Bangkok an expat dream destination? Depends on some factors. According to the research Prices & Earnings by Swiss bank UBS you have to work 45 minutes in Bangkok to be able to buy a Big Mac, that’s a few minutes more than the global average of 37 minutes. By contrast, workers earning the net wage in Chicago get a Big Mac in 12 minutes, in Nairobi after 2.5 hours of labor.

In terms of purchasing power Bangkok ranks just marginally higher than the bottom of the 73 cities compared worldwide. Bangkok though is a winner when you buy the study’s basket of 122 goods and services. What sets you back 3,172 U.S. dollars in Geneva, costs you 1,742 dollars in Bangkok.

Interesting that Bangkok ranks on the same level with Auckland and London regarding food prices. With 710 dollars Tokyo has the highest price tag for the basket. Bangkok with 362 dollars lies slightly below the middle’s 385 dollars. Dress for less in Manila – Bangkok costs more than twice as much. Apartment rents? They rank Bangkok as about the cheapest. What?

And that’s where the problems with any kind of such studies start. This kind of flat rating ignores individual specifics. The area I live in Bangkok requires a quite bigger budget than cities that are listed as much more expensive. And transport? A second-class one-way ticket for a 200 km rail journey in Germany costs you twelve times as much of the Thai journey.

Car prices? Bangkok tops nearly all of them. The money you have to cough up for a good car in Bangkok gets you a luxury car in Western Europe. And Bangkok’s gross and net hourly pay looks dismissal in comparison with the world’s great cities.

Positives: Payroll deductions are among the lowest in Bangkok – but as vacation days 7 are listed for Thailand. Welcome to Thailand, record holder of public holidays … Still, Bangkok records long working hours in line with other cities in Asia and the Middle East.

But then again, wage differences are staggering, listed incomes vary wildly. The lower Bangkok ranks in the study, the more kingly a higher salary here may feel. Funny that in diplomatic circles Thailand is still considered a difficult work place qualifying for special allowances … Well, not all diplomats are the same.

While we’re at it, have a look at our very own Big Mango index, showing that life in Bangkok has actually become slightly deflationary during the past year.

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Comments

One Response to “Bangkokians Labor 45 Minutes For A Big Mac”

chdarat on August 20th, 2009 3.21 pm

Not the MaMa index but Big Mac instead for hi-so Thai then!

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