Manila Ranks as One of the Cheapest Cities in the World

Momar Visaya/Asianjournal.com
LOS ANGELES - A recent global study made by one of the world’s leading financial firms shows that Manila is one of the cheapest cities in the world, alongside its Asian neighbors Delhi, Jakarta, Mumbai and Bangkok.

The UBS study, dubbed ‘Prices and Earnings’ also revealed that four European cities – Oslo, London, Copenhagen and Zurich — and Tokyo are the most expensive while Zurich, Geneva, Dublin, Los Angeles and Luxembourg lead the pack in purchasing power because they have the highest net wages.

“People in Asian work the longest hours – almost 50 days more per year than Western Europeans. Asian workers at least partially compensate for low purchasing power through longer working hours,” the report also said.

Jakarta residents have the lowest levels of purchasing power and share the bottom five spot with Manila, Delhi, Bangkok and Sofia.

In the cities of Western Europe and North America, workers in 14 representative professions earn a gross hourly wage averaging USD 18; in the Eastern European and Asian cities examined, the figure was only USD 4 to 5. The highest wages are paid in Copenhagen, Oslo, Zurich, Geneva, New York and London.

UBS used a standardized basket of 122 goods and services to have a global comparison of purchasing power in 71 cities around the world. The basket of goods and services cost the least in Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, Delhi and Buenos Aires.

The report explains that “wages only become meaningful in relation to prices, i.e., what can be bought with the money earned.” A globally available product like a Big Mac can make the relationship between wages and prices much clearer and on a global average, 35 minutes of work buys a Big Mac.

Disparities are huge since in Nairobi, one and a half hours’ work is needed to buy the burger with the average net hourly wage there. In Manila, it would take an hour and 21 minutes to buy a Big Mac while in the cities of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Miami, a maximum of 13 minutes’ labor is needed.

Asian employees can at least partially compensate for low hourly wages through longer hours spent at work. With a mean annual working time of 2,088 hours, people work longest in the Asian cities. Based on a 42-hour work week, Asian workers labor about 50 days a year more than their peers in Paris, where a working year is just 1,480 hours, or Berlin, where a year’s work equals 1,610 hours.

In no other region is the price spread between the most expensive and the cheapest city greater than in Asia. While Tokyo lands in fifth place among the world’s most expensive cities, the region is also home to the cities at the other end of the spectrum. (AJ)